Update On That Stiverne-Wilder Scrap

The most anticipated heavyweight tangle of 2014, or maybe now 2015, a face-off between WBC champ Bermane Stiverne and Deontay Wilder, will hopefully be set by this weekend. That’s according to the Canadian promoter Camille Estephan, who helps helm Stiverne, and is working with Don King in trying to put the pieces together.

Oh, those pieces..

Wilder is advised by Al Haymon, and works under the Golden Boy umbrella. But, says Estephan, “We’re a lot closer” to getting the deal wrapped up. A purse bid was being threatened, but that is off the table, with the dealmakers seemingly getting closer to being on the same page.

Monetary terms requested by King have been accepted by Golden Boy and Haymon, Estephan told me, but no date or site has been chosen, nor has TV been announced. I have to think King and Haymon have a good idea about who will screen it, or else it makes it hard to get sense of monetary parameters.

Wilder would enjoy more of a home court advantage in Vegas or Cali, while Estephan would like to see the bout in Canada, or maybe NYC.

“We’re not overlooking Wilder, but he’s had a choreographed career. Do you see an A list fighter he’s fought? But the more wins he has by KO, the better it looks when Bermane beats him. We want him, and we want Wladimir in 2015. We want all those guys, we want to clean up the division,” said Estephan, a rising player on the fertile Canadian boxing scene.

The politics of this deal are dicey, it seems like, as HBO doesn’t want the fight, as they are Haymon-averse. Showtime and Golden Boy’s relationship is now a work in progress, as well. Because of that political upheaval, it’s possible this can, this scrap, gets kicked into 2015.

We shall stay on top of it….

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