#1 WBC heavyweight contender Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) stopped 37-year-old Jason Gavern (25-17-3, 11 KOs), in the 4th round last Saturday night at the StubHub Center, in Carson, California.
Deontay knocked Gavern down twice in the fight with chopping right hands in dropping him in the 3rd and 4th rounds. Gavern, who reportedly owns his own landscaping business, decided not to come out for the 5th round.
Deontay looked to be taking it easy on Gavern for most of the fight with the exception of 5 hard right hands he threw. Of the 5 hard rights Deontay threw in the 4 rounds, he scored 2 knockdowns. It kinds of tells you the kind of power that Deontay has. He didn’t look smooth in the fight or particularly skillful, but it didn’t matter. His right hand made up for all of his flaws.
After the fight, Deontay told Showtime’s Brian Kenny “We knew what this fight meant and we came to do what we came to do. We came to win and get a couple of rounds. I knew this guy wasn’t at my level. With me in line for a world title shot, why risk fighting a dangerous contender? For what? I feel every heavyweight is a risk. Any heavyweight over 200 pounds with gloves is a risk. If you get hit right, you can go down. I feel I would have been the laughing stock of the world if I had lost and I blew my title shot. So, we did what we wanted to do – go rounds. I feel like I could have done anything I wanted to tonight against Jason. I could have ended it early, but that wasn’t the plan that I wanted. I didn’t want that. I wanted to give the fans a little bit more of me. My main focus is on Bermane Stiverne and that’s who I’m coming for. People are going to see a different side of Deontay that they’ve never seen before. I didn’t get no credit for this fight anyway; so even if I looked good, I still would have got no credit.”
Deontay will be facing Stiverne sometime in the next 3-4 months, provided that Stiverne’s hand injury heals before then. The fight still hasn’t been negotiated yet.
“I want that fight [Klitschko],” Deontay said “That would be a dream come true for me. They’ve [the Klitschko brothers] have been on the top of the game for so long. Who wouldn’t want to fight those guy? I would be the first to knock them off their throne, and I want to be the first to say I knocked them off their throne. It starts [Deontay going after Wladimir] after this title fight, because I will be crowned the WBC heavyweight champion of the world, I have no doubts. Then after that, we can move on to another level of unifying all the belts in the division. I don’t think he’s [Wladimir] going to retire no time soon. He’s on a mission just like I’m on a mission. I’m on a mission to be crowned WBC champion. He’s on a mission to get the WBC belt. Once I have that belt, it [a unification fight against Wladimir] makes perfect sense.”
