Stiverne, a Haitian-born Las Vegas resident, captured the green belt vacated by long-standing champion Vitali Klitschko with a stunning stopping victory over Chris Arreola and will now be expected to defend the title against knockout artist Deontay Wilder.
“The WBC is very happy to see that the heavyweight division is getting a tremendous response from the boxing community around the world,” said Sulaiman.
Bermane Stiverne and Chris Arreola both fought with heart and passion that heavyweight boxing has not seen in a long time. Both former WBC International champions competed to find the new WBC heavyweight champion of the world, and Bermane Stiverne now holds the green and gold belt with honor and glory.”
Several heavyweight clashes are now lined up for the coming months as the division comes alive with activity following years being dormant, with five or six contenders emerging as pretenders to the new world champion.
“The WBC Silver championship will be contested between Carlos Takam of Cameroon and Tony Thompson of the United States on June 6 in Paris, and the WBC international title will be contested between Alexander Povetkin of Russia and Manuel Charr of Lebanon/Syria, on May 30 in Russia,” he confirmed.
“The WBC mandatory contender is Deontay Wilder, and the other scheduled final elimination between Mike Perez and Bryant Jennings has been postponed due to an injury. The WBC will wait for the medical certificate to confirm the status of this fight.
“The heavyweight division has traditionally been the most important championship in boxing, and there currently is tremendous excitement and activity all over the world,” added Sulaiman.
The WBC’s boss made no mention of four-belt title holder Wladimir Klitschko though, who is known to want a crack at the championship held so dearly be his older sibling until he stepped away to concentrate on his political career.
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