ThaBoxingVoice.com interviewed WBC heavyweight champ Bermane Stiverne and asked some questions to address the rumors spinning around the newly crowned champ’s head while probing him about future plans and rivals. Our sources had lead us to believe that Stiverne had hurt his hand in training, a claim that he denied outright. The Haitian born champ is recovering from a fractured metacarpal however, only he sustained the injury during title eliminator fight with Arreola. “I should be able to use the bag in a couple weeks, and spar in a couple weeks” explains Stiverne. “Right after the fight, it was hurting a lot. I couldn’t shake hands or nothing, but it’s just one of those injuries that you gotta let time heal it.”

We would not portray ourselves here at ThaBoxingVoice.com as the voice of the people if we weren’t dedicated to addressing our reader’s questions and concerns. We pressed Stiverne as to if he was maybe exaggerating or playing up the injury in order to hold out and possibly land a Klitchsko fight, instead of a more immediate defense against a contender. Stiverne’s response was shocking- “I’m not interested in a fight with Wladimir right now, who I wanna fight is Deontay Wilder… I’m not trying to bide time… The fight I want is Deontay Wilder”. Instead of seeking a title unification, and potential big money fight, Stiverne seems determined to settle the score with the trash-talking Deontay Wilder.

Stiverne isn’t the outspoken personality that Wilder is, and he responds to Wilder’s call outs as simple noise. “Why call someone out when something is scheduled to happen?” questions Stiverne. “Maybe this is like WWE to him, but last time I checked it was boxing”, says Stiverne, who thinks of Wilder’s antics as a childish tactic. In many ways, Stiverne is the opposite of Wilder. He has worked his way quietly through the rankings while fighting tough fights, whereas Wilder has blown through C level opponents so far. “I don’t think he’s on my level” says Stiverne with complete calm. He goes on to question his management and their willingness to advance their fighter without developing him as a balanced contender- “I think it’s too early in his career to fight for a title, Boxing is more of a business today then a sport… [Wilder’s management] thinks he can go to war with one weapon, everybody knows that to go to war you need more than one weapon”

Wilder may not have seen the type of opposition that Stiverne has, but the great equalizer in the sport of boxing is punching power, which Wilder does seem to have a lot of. We asked Stiverne how he views Wilder’s power and how that would affect his fight plan- “I’m too slick and too smart for him, he’s gonna try to unload… I don’t see any problem with fighting him” “I don’t think he will be a problem for me”, explains Stiverne. “It’s just a matter of time until I expose him, and I will expose him.”