At one point last month, former WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne was preparing to face a 19-0 anomaly with 19 knockouts on his impressive record.
Christopher Lovejoy, a fighter WBN has intriguingly followed of late – had been due to being in the opposite corner on a world title bill.
All according to Don King. The long-time and experienced promoter announced the clash a couple of weeks prior.
The trouble was, Lovejoy knew nothing about the fight.
Lovejoy took to social media to declare himself none-the-wiser on the clash, a Pay Per View co-feature on the Mahmoud Charr vs. Trevor Bryan ‘championship’ undercard.
Days later and Lovejoy was from the poster. Not long after, Charr was unable to make the stateside trip.
The situation left Bryan and Stiverne without opponents. It was a no-brainer for King to put the pair together.
BERMANE STIVERNE
Stiverne eventually lost to Bryan via late stoppage, but WBN wondered what the Haitian-Canadian made of his other potential foe.
“It was nothing personal with Lovejoy,” Stiverne exclusively told World Boxing News. “This is the fight business.
“I met him once. He seems like a cool guy. Unfortunately for him, I fight whoever gets offered to me.”
Asked about his remarkable record, one that sees Lovejoy hold a perfect knockout record against victims totaling 57 wins (an average of three per fighter) between them, Stiverne stated he looked up the American – and like everyone else – came up empty.
“I know what his record is. But I have never seen a fight of his. I came up empty on searching for footage of any of his fights.
“I didn’t know any of that (his opponents’ records). But like I said, I never saw him in action.
“If that’s who they want me to fight later this year, I will. Nothing personal to Christopher Lovejoy – like I said,” he concluded.
HEAVYWEIGHT CHALLENGES
Lovejoy was due to get the first test of his career against David Allen on Halloween last year. Don King threatened legal action, and Lovejoy was subsequently out at the last minute.
Since then, Lovejoy has called out Tyson Fury and many others. None of the recognized names have come to fruition yet.
The 37-year-old will probably head back to Mexico, though, where all his bouts have taken place.
Facing Stiverne would be a good yardstick for the ‘heavyweight contender’ though, who is currently rated at 373 in the world despite racking up almost 20 straight wins.
That tells its own story.
WBN Editor Phil has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN on Twitter @WorldBoxingNews.
