professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...
heavyweight
Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.
Boxing Professional
Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...
title from 2014 to 2015.
Amateur career
Stiverne started boxing at the age of 19. As an
amateur
An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
he won a silver medal in the
super heavyweight
Super heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and bodybuilding, competitive bodybuilding.
Boxing
In amateur boxing, the super heavyweight division is a weight class division for fighters weighing in excess of 91 kilograms (200 pounds). Int ...
division at the 2005 National Championships, as well as bronze in the 2003 and 2004 Championships. In international competition he beat Robert Helenius (points) and David Price (knockout). His total amateur record was 49 wins and 10 losses. Stiverne commented about his absence from the Olympics: "In a qualifying tournament in Mexico I met a Mexican fighter in the semi-finals and I was robbed. I knocked him down three times but still they gave him the decision and the place in Olympics." That fighter was Mexican-American George Garcia.
Professional career
Early career
Stiverne turned professional under promoter Don King, and knocked out his first twelve opponents with his favoured left hook.
In 2007 he lost by TKO to Demetrice King. In January 2011, he fought and KOd Kertson Manswell in the 2 round. He won the vacant WBC International, vacant WBC USNBC and vacant WBA Fedelatin heavyweight titles. He fought Ray Austin on June 25, 2011 for the vacant WBC Silver heavyweight title. Stiverne won the fight by a 10-round TKO, becoming the mandatory challenger for the WBC heavyweight championship, then held by
Vitali Klitschko
Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv,WBC ordered their #1 ranked heavyweight Bermane Stiverne, and their #2 ranked heavyweight
Chris Arreola
Cristobal Arreola (born March 5, 1981) is an American former professional boxer who challenged three times for the WBC heavyweight title. He was ranked by BoxRec as the world's No.8 heavyweight at the conclusion of 2007 and as No.7 heavyweigh ...
to fight for the world heavyweight championship, which was vacated by
Vitali Klitschko
Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv,Galen Center
The Galen Center is a multipurpose indoor arena and athletic facility owned and operated by the University of Southern California. Located at the southeast corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Figueroa Street in the Exposition Park area of Los Ang ...
in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. Despite beating Arreola in their previous meeting, Stiverne entered the bout as a +140 underdog, with a number of media outlets predicting an Arreola win. Stiverne won the rematch by a sixth-round technical knockout. Arreola was caught with a right hand early on in the round, and was unable to defend against the increasing volume of Stiverne, which prompted the referee to wave the fight off. Stiverne became the first Haitian-born boxer to win a world heavyweight championship. He was congratulated by notable Haitians on this accomplishment, including by the
President of Haiti
The president of Haiti (, ), officially called the president of the Republic of Haiti (, , ), is the head of state of Haiti. Executive power in Haiti is divided between the president and the government, which is headed by the prime minister of ...
,
Michel Martelly
Michel Joseph Martelly (; born 12 February 1961) is a Haitian musician and politician who served as the 42nd president of Haiti from May 2011 until February 2016. On August 20, 2024, the United States sanctioned the former president for traffic ...
Stiverne vs. Wilder
Stiverne made his first WBC heavyweight title defense against the 2008
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
bronze medalist Deontay Wilder. The fight was scheduled for January 17, 2015, and was held at the
MGM Grand Garden Arena
The MGM Grand Garden Arena is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena within the MGM Grand Las Vegas, MGM Grand resort, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The venue opened on December 31, 1993, with a concert by Barbra Streisand, and s ...
in Las Vegas, NV. Stiverne lost the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 120-107, 119-108 and 118-109. Stiverne landed just 110 punches over the course of the twelve rounds, while Wilder landed 227 punches. Stiverne was hospitalized with dehydration following his title loss, but was released a few days later.
Post title reign
The cancelled Povetkin vs. Stiverne fight
In 2016, the WBC ordered mandatory challenger
Alexander Povetkin
Alexander Vladimirovich Povetkin (; born 2 September 1979) is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2021. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) ( Regular version) heavyweight title from 2011 to 2013; the World Boxing ...
to fight Stiverne for the interim WBC heavyweight title. On November 11, the WBC were informed that Stiverne had tested positive for the banned substance methylhexaneamine. Stiverne claimed he ingested a supplement without knowing that it contained the banned substance. The WBC took into account that it was Stiverne's first offence when making its ruling and fined him $75,000. Just 20 hours before the fight was to take place, the WBC withdrew its sanction of the fight stating Povetkin had failed a drug test for ostarine. Stiverne declined to fight Povetkin.
Stiverne vs. Wilder II
On November 4, 2017, Stiverne again fought Wilder for the WBC world heavyweight title. Before the fight he had remained largely inactive with only two bouts in nearly three years. At the time of the fight he was the only man to go twelve rounds with Wilder. The rematch proved to be disappointing as he was knocked unconscious in the first round. Stats showed that he only threw four punches during the entire fight, none of which connected.
Stiverne vs. Joyce
In 2019, Stiverne faced undefeated British heavyweight contender Joe Joyce (7-0, 7 KOs) on the undercard of Chris Eubank Jr. vs. James DeGale on February 23. Joyce was ranked #5 by the WBA at heavyweight. Joyce opened up by throwing power shots and pressing the opponent. The out of shape, 40 year old Stiverne had some successful counterattacks but stayed passive most of the time. The fight was stopped by the referee in the 6th round, Stiverne losing by TKO.
Stiverne vs. Bryan
On January 29, 2021, Stiverne faced WBA regular heavyweight champion and #1 WBA ranked heavyweight Trevor Bryan. Bryan managed to drop Stiverne twice, with the referee stopping the fight shortly after the second knockdown, at the middle of round eleven.
Haiti
Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
. He is the youngest of 14 children, having eight sisters and five brothers. In July 2011, he volunteered at the Welcome Hall Mission in
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, to offer training and inspiration to local homeless youth. Stiverne is known to be a fan of the
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...