Team Stiverne Tapping Toes Impatiently, But Team Wilder Seems Optimistic Deal To Be Finalized

It hasn’t reached the pint of despair, but some pulling of his hair? Yes, the manager of WBC heavyweight champ Bermane Stiverne, the Canadian Camille Estephan, does admit that the lengthy negotiations, and the waiting game as he seeks to put the title defense for his guy Stiverne against Deontay Wilder together, has gotten a wee bit irksome.

“We signed contracts, we’re ready to go,” Estephan told me Tuesday night. “The other guy seems like a talker, not a doer. The more he puts it off, the more it’s gonna hurt. As far as Wilder goes, I don’t hear his words anymore, because his actions speak so loudly.”

Postponed purse bid, endless waiting, Estephan isn’t in a giddy mood, no, but he is still thinking this bout will get done…at some point. He cited the optimism on the part of the WBC president, Mauricio Sulaiman, that this tussle will be finalized.

I reached out to Jay Deas, the Alabama-based manager for Wilder, who helps put together the path to prosperity for the long, tall and somewhat untested Wilder, along with Al Haymon, and promoter Golden Boy. I wondered about his level of optimism..or is he too tapping his feet in an impatient fashion. “I think this gets wrapped up pretty quick,” Deas told me, after I finished with Estephan. “I think the holdup was Stiverne hashing things out with promoter Don King. But I think we get it finalized by this week.”

Sometime in January, in LA, Vegas, NYC or Montreal is what he thinks we’ll get, as that will give all enough time to promote the scrap. Wilder has been a recent on fixture on Showtime, so I tend to think they’d have inside track on televising the proposed event. “I think the dominoes will fall quickly,” Deas said. “We’ve never pulled out of a fight! And, if nobody fights, nobody eats. I think me and Camille and everyone is on the same page, wanting this to be done.”

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