The 36 year-old, who has so far won TWO final eliminators for a crack at the WBC belt, has been out of the ring since defeating Chris Arreola in April and had hoped to be squaring up to Klitschko by the end of the year.
Klitschko, 41, has asked WBC President Jose Sulaiman for special dispensation until 2014 to allow him to recover from an injury to his right hand and Stiverne is adamant that he won’t take an interim bout until the champion is ready to fight.
“I don’t plan on going back to the ring at the moment. I haven’t had a talk with my team, yet. But at this moment it’s a no. He’s faking his injury; he obviously has a lot of things to take care of before he fights me,” Stiverne stressed to World Boxing News.
“The WBC’s decision is about politics, money, favoritism, etc. That is not the way to respect the fans and boxing. Also, why have rules if you don’t respect them?
Sulaiman recently stated to WBN that they won’t rule out handing Stiverne interim title status whilst he awaits the green light from Klitschko, although the American wants to assure ‘Dr. Ironfist’ that his full attention is on securing his hard-earned title chance – however long it takes.
“I am not taking my eyes and mind off Vitali Klitschko. If they think I’m getting frustrated, it’s far from that. One thing for sure, they won’t catch me off guard,” said Stiverne.
“I have all the time in the world. This isn’t the first time it’s happened to me. I’ve waited for smaller fights before, so why not wait for the biggest fight of my career, the dream of all fighters? So, yes, I will wait and it will gave me more time to learn, train, get stronger and smarter.
“I’m leaving the matter to my manager Camille Estephan, who will handle it the best way,” added the number one contender.
