Bermane Stiverne not ready for Klitschko

[FlatLine]

Stiverne has KOd 20 people in 25 fights, he an aggresive fighter. 14 of those were 1st round KOs. Arreola expected to be in a toe to toe war but Stiverne surprised him and boxed him all night. How many Stiverne fights have you seen?

It's a good time to make the Vitali fight - my issue with Stiverne is his weight, he needs to come in around 10 pounds lighter.

[Hitman932]

Stiverne fights a lot like David Haye. He is always on his back foot with his lead hand down and looking for a right hand counter. In the process he pisses away rounds.

Luckily for him Arreola couldn't breathe and couldn't push the fight.

He has no choice but to take the Vitali fight right now. If he waits yeah he may win the vacant title but the purse will be much smaller than if he faces Vitali and gets his guaranteed %.

It's a terrible matchup for Stiverne as Vitali will just abuse him with his left jab/hook all night and his only chance of winning is Vitali dying of old age halfway through the fight.

[Cuban Linx]

Not ready for a Klitschko? lol who is?

The last 8 years or so the brothers have had only one legitimate threat and that was Odlanier Solis, and he wasted his opportunity by showing up out of shape and blowing his knee out.

Stiverne will be a nice stay busy fight for Vitali. I admit he is an upgrade over Charr. But he has no chance in this fight. If he tries to box with Vitali he's going to end up like Sam Peter. I see a repeat of Klitschko-Peter.

[Mr. Philadel]

By defeating Chris Aereola, Stiverne has now put himself in a position to push for a fight with Vladimir Klitschko. However, his team may want to put that off for a little while and reconsider their approach.

Stiverne has great power. In fact, he's arguably the hardest hitting heavyweight in the world right now. Problem is, Stiverne is not an aggressive fighter, and that is what it will take for him to beat Klitschko.

Klitschko is a very smart fighter who understands his physical advantage and has no particular preference when it comes to winning. He doesn't care if he wins by knockout or decision, and doesn't force anything. He's very disciplined, he'll move around the ring, use his jab and maintain proper distance throughout the fight. It's a proven formula for Klitschko, and Stiverne is tailor made to be victimized by it.

For Stiverne to have a chance, he has to learn to cut off the ring and punch in combination while moving forward.

As it is, Stiverne is mostly a one punch fighter. Sure, against Aereola, he used a lazy jab to the tune of 700 punches, but that punch will have no value whatsoever against a much talller, quicker, and more disciplined fighter.

I like Stiverne. I've been following him from an early point in his career, and that's why I hope he realizes that his current style has a limited upside.

When you have power like he does, you have to learn to impose it upon your opponent, or you will almost always come up short against truly good boxers.

Just my two cents.

I agree.... VERY good post!!

[hitman smax]

Stivern's power is impressive, but he was looking tentative and stiff before he was able to clock Arreolla the way he did. I personally believe Chris was still shook from that shot and wasn't very clear headed the rest of the fight. But hey, credit to Bermane, he was bound to land a good shot sooner or later. I personally think the green Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder would ease past him because they won't stumble forward into hard shots, and I don't see Bermane catching anyone on the back foot anytime soon, especially with fighters of their size. I'm not even going to mention the Klitschkos'.

I actually think Stiverne matches up well with both Fury and Wilder. Those guys are strait forward, and that plays right into Stivernes power.

It's the smarter fighters like Bryant Jennings and Malik Scott that would present problems for Stiverne.

Fortunately for Stiverne, he's catapulted himself past the likes of those guys with his win over Aereola, but Klitschko presents an even greater match up problem for him.

I do, however, agree with others here that Stiverne has to take his shot while it exists. I just think he's gotta make significant changes to his approach to even have a chance.

[Marcov]

I would like to see him get a title shot against Wlad.

[Mike D]

IDK, I like Stiverne but for all intents & purposes he gets outclassed here. That said, of course he needs to take it if the opportunity presents itself.