• Steve Bunce

Wilder is no saviour - and won't call Fury any time soon

Deontay Wilder dominated Bermane Stiverne to win the WBC heavyweight title on Saturday © Getty Images

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Deontay Wilder is not the heavyweight boxing messiah but he certainly will be an entertaining world champion until he is inevitably dumped on the canvas.

Wilder's flawless, often repetitive win against Bermane Stiverne showed the world that Wilder could fight to plan, could go the 12 round distance and that he is not as wild as he wants us to believe.

Buncey's Vaults

Lennox Lewis poses with Zeljko Mavrovic in 1998 © Getty Images

• The endless merry-go-round of the heavyweight carnival continued when Lennox Lewis, the WBC champion (just like Mr. Wilder), was 'ready to reject a deal with HBO worth £18 million for five fights and instead sign a promotional agreement with Don King and Showtime, HBO's main rivals.'
• Lewis changed his mind when Henry Akinwande 'failed a blood test in New York and ruined the fight schedule of Evander Holyfield, who holds the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles. Holyfield now has time to meet Lewis.' It was a complicated set of deals, engineered by King, who had arrangements with Akinwande and Holyfield.
• I also wrote: 'Another possibility is that Lewis is trying to get more money from HBO by threatening to defect.' Nine months later Lewis did fight Holyfield, but his next opponent was Croatia's Zeljko Mavrovic, which shows that not all heavyweight fighters were famous. Lewis won comfortably and without incident over 12 rounds.
• As reported in The Daily Telegraph, June 9, 1998

However, it also clearly showed those with enough sense to recognise it that he is a long, long way from being an elite fighter. His movement is wasteful, he simply can't throw an uppercut, he is limited at close quarters and he has no idea how to break down a fighter determined to survive. Too many people confuse mobility and athleticism for good movement - Wilder's feet are quick, but he crosses his legs and fails to get traction on punches. In this new boxing world order, a six-pack has replaced the essential ability to jab and not drag your back foot behind your lead foot. In short, Wilder is a technical nightmare.

Stiverne was truly poor but his corner should hang their heads in shame for failing to make him move his head or change tactics once he was six rounds down and Wilder was showing no sign of keeling over. There is an argument that leaving the ring with a swollen face does not excuse a bad performance. Why did nobody in his corner grab him by the ears after six rounds and scream at him to get closer, get busier and do something to try and keep the belt.

Stiverne arrived in the ring after two months in Mayweather's gym and perhaps the arrogance from the great champion's retreat rubbed off; Stiverne fought like he believed that all he had to do was show up, stand up and watch Wilder implode. Wrong, wrong and wrong, Stiverne lacked any urgency and he plodded through 12 rounds to surrender his WBC belt with a shrug at the end. "I was not 100%," he said.

Wilder does deliver raw excitement and that is why the nice guy from Alabama is being confused with the saviour of the sport. I should add, before I'm accused of being too critical, that Wilder has no problem in the heart and desire departments. I would trust him to come out of the boxing trenches swinging, trust him to only lose if he is beaten into submission and trust him to come back with a vengeance when his unbeaten sequence ends. Stiverne does not qualify for the same praise and that is unfortunate because he is a really nice man.

"It was the win I needed and the win that heavyweight boxing needed," said Tyson Fury. "Wilder used his height and speed against a shorter and slower opponent - I did the same against [Dereck] Chisora - I would not do that against Wilder, I would just walk out and get rid of him. I told him that one night at the fight in Sheffield." Fury has also called him a chinless, hype job, which seems a bit harsh.

Right now Wilder is the first American to hold a version of the world heavyweight title since Shannon Briggs lost the WBO belt in June 2007. Briggs lost it in his first defence and that is something that Wilder and his people will want to make sure doesn't happen, which means Fury will not be getting a call any time soon.

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