Bermane Stiverne-Chris Arreola on May 10 sees Don King return to heavyweight boxing
82-year-old prromoter Don King makes his return to heavyweight boxing when Bermane Stiverne (23-1-1, 20 KO’s) fights Chris Arreola (36-3, 31 KO’s) for the vacant WBC heavyweight title at the Galen Center, in Los Angeles, California on May 10.
Promotional responsibilities are shared though as Goossen Tutor represents Arreola and King promotes Stiverne.
For King, it is a far cry from "The Rumble in the Jungle" in Zaire in Africa when Muhammad Ali overcome George Foreman forty years ago, but is significant because it will crown a new WBC leader following Vitali Klitschko's decision to relinquish the belt to focus his attentions on politics in his native Ukraine.
“The Heavyweight division are the glorious warriors…they lead the pack,” exclaimed King.
“That’s what all of you will bare witness to on this glorious night. When you see the type of battle that will take place here on May 10th, victory is eminent. History will be made here."
Arreola and Stiverne previously fought in April 2013, when Stiverne defeated Arreola by a 12 round unanimous decision.
Stiverne has a good jab and a lot of power. He does well against fighters that come straight at him the way that Arreola did last year. However, he hasn't been in the ring since beating Arreola, whereas "The Nightmare" returned in September to smash Seth Mitchell in one round.
Arreola probably won’t be able to bomb Stiverne out like he’s done his past opponents, so he’s going to need a different approach this time. Trying to slug with Stiverne didn’t work last time and it probably won’t this time.
The winner of the Arreola-Stiverne fight will need to face mandatory challenger Deontay Wilder next unless they can get an exception from the WBC to fight a unification bout against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.