Heavyweight contender Deontay Wilder, a.k.a. the "Bronze Bomber," crushed his opponent Jason Gavern on Saturday night at the Stubhub Center in California in a stay-busy fight until he can have his title shot against WBC heavyweight champ Bermane Stiverne.
According to Wilder, fans excited to see him step up in competition will get their chance in November.
Stiverne trainer labels Wilder a clown
"The letters went out today. We're about to into negotiations. The world will know soon as far as where it's going to be, venues and all that stuff. All that stuff is coming," Wilder said. "That's the month [November]. That's the month that they are claiming it will be one hundred percent."
Wilder has a 32-0-0 record with all 32 wins coming by way of knockout, but none of his victories have come against top competitors. Gavern had entered the Wilder fight a winner in four of his previous five bouts, but prior to that experienced a seven-match losing streak that spanned three years.
Deontay Wilder thinks he can knock out Stiverne in Round 1
Despite being a low-level opponent, Wilder wasn't overly impressive and took almost four whole rounds to stop Gavern. Showtime's Brian Kenny was critical of Wilder's performance.
"Deontay couldn't get him out, at least easy. What was surprising is he couldn't even snap a good jab off his head. I'd have to say I'm less than thrilled with this performance. I'm all for bringing a guy along slowly until he's ready. Is it so crazy to think he could challenge Wladimir Klitschko and be the best in the division? I really have misgivings."
Wilder said he was trying to get several rounds of work in against Gavern in order to build up some stamina. Wilder is known to record his knockouts very early, but when he steps up to face Stiverne the KO may not come so easily.
"I wanted to get a couple of rounds. My main goal was to get a couple of rounds and not so much go looking for the knockout. I could have had him out in the first round when he started moving to his right. He was right there lined up for my right hand. That wasn't my plan of doing. I didn't want to give away too much as well too because I knew my opposition would be looking as well, along with a lot of other guys. Everything worked out like we wanted it."
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