By Ian S Palmer
The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada will be the site of the Bermane Stiverne vs Derric Rossy clash this Saturday, November 14th. Stiverne, who was born in Haiti and now fights out of Canada, will be entering the ring for the first time since losing his WBC heavyweight crown to American Deontay Wilder by unanimous decision back in January. Meanwhile, Rossy of Medford, New York is more or less a solid journeyman boxer who has the skills to pull off an upset now and again. The fight is scheduled to go 10 rounds and there’s no national television coverage of it.
The 37-year-old Stiverne will climb into the ring with an impressive record of 24-2-1 along with 21 Kos while the 35-year-old Rossy has a mark of 30-10 with 14 Kos under his belt. Stiverne lost his title in a spirited fight against Wilder, but after the bout claimed he was suffering from dehydration. Stiverne would love to get another crack at a world title and he’ll have to make sure he gets past Rossy in impressive fashion to do so.
Rossy didn’t fare too well in his last outing as he came out on the wrong end of a 10-round unanimous decision to Trevor Bryan in August. He doesn’t have much momentum at all entering Saturday’s bout with Stiverne as he’s won just twice in his last seven contests while losing the other five. Rossy has plenty of experience since he’s faced some fine fighters in the past, but he usually falls short when he squares off against them. Some of the opponents he’s faced include Kubrat Pulev, Eddie Chambers, Ray Mercer, Audley Harrison, Fres Oquendo, Travis Walker and Vyacheslav Glazkov.
Rossy’s 10 losses have come against Bryan, Glazkov, Oquendo, Harrison, Pulev, Chambers (twice), and Alexander Dimitrenko, Maurice Harris and Joey Dawejko. He was stopped by Harrison, Harris, Pulev, Dimitrenko, and once by Chambers. Rossy stands 6-feet-3-inches tall and has a 76.5-inch reach. He’s fought 246 rounds since turning pro back in 2004 and has a current knockout ratio of 35 per cent. Stiverne’s two losses have been against Wilder and a fourth-round stoppage by Demetrice King in July of 2007.
The former champ is 6-feet-2-inches tall and has a wingspan of 76 inches. He has 97 rounds under his belt since 2005 and has an impressive knockout of 78 per cent. Stiverne possesses quite a bit of power in his fists and has beaten the likes of Ray Austin and Chris Arreola twice. Other than facing Wilder, he hasn’t exactly met any elite boxers up to now. He has a pretty solid chin despite being stopped once, and his boxing skills are probably underrated by many.
Prediction
Neither of these guys is a spring chicken anymore as they’re both pushing 40 years of age. Perhaps all we need to know about this fight is the fact that Rossy has been stopped five times in his career and Stiverne has 21 knockouts in his 24 wins and owns a KO percentage of 78. Look for Rossy to become Stiverne’s 22nd knockout victim.
