Former heavyweight contender Chris Arreola lost a unanimous decision in dominating fashion to Bermane Stiverne on Saturday night.
Stiverne (23-1-1, 20 KO’s) apparently broke the nose of his opponent early in their contest, and then was able to knock him to the canvas with a huge right hand right before the third round bell. The Canadian fighter, by way of Haiti, battered the face of Arreola, en route to the biggest, and most impressive, victory of his career.
The judges agreed with what was obvious to all those who saw it, scoring the bout 117-110, 117-110, and 118-109, all in favor of Bermane Stiverne.
Meanwhile, Chris Arreola (35-3) saw a personal seven fight winning streak snapped. His last defeat came at the hands of Tomasz Adamek, back in April 2010. Before that, he lost to Vitali Klitschko in an attempt to capture the WBC heavyweight title from the Ukrainian.
Supposedly, the victory will earn Stiverne the opportunity to go after the same belt that Arreola was unsuccessful at capturing. However, at this point, it is unclear if or when Klitschko will compete again.
Stiverne turned pro back in 2005, and knocked out each of his first twelve opponents before suffering the ffirst loss of his career at the hands of Demetrice King. He has yet to lose since, but did score a draw when he fought Charles Davis. Despite the impressive record, he still came in as a sizable underdog to Arreola, who many thought was too much of a step up in class for Stiverne.
Although he has yet to compete for a major title, Stiverne has held several minor titles. the last came when he won the WBC Silver title with a tenth round knockout over Ray Austin in a fight that took place in 2001.
