Journeyman Jason Gavern (25-16-4, 11 KOs) is expected to be the next opponent for #1 WBC heavyweight contender Deontay Wilder (31-0, 31 KOs) next Saturday night in a 10 round fight at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Gavern is taking the fight with little over one weeks’ notice, but he doesn’t seem too worried about it.
The 37-year-old Gavern plans on going out there and doing the best job he can in giving the 6’7” Deontay some rounds in front of the StubHub crowd. Unless Gavern’s chin is able to hold up under the early bombardment from Deontay, we should be seeing another early KO for him.
Gavern’s punch resistance is pretty good, but it’s unlikely that he’s going to be able to stand up to Deontay’s shots for the full 10 rounds without getting taken out at some point unless he uses a lot of movement to avoid his big shots,
“It’s six or seven days’ notice, but for me, it’s ‘hey, let’s fight. At the end of the day, (Wilder) will be world champion and it will be cool to say I fought that guy.” Gavern said to the tuscaloosanews.com. “I know my job, I know my position. My job is to get him rounds and make it a good fight. My job is to put on a show for the fans,” Gavern said. “At the end of the day I’m going to put on a show for my fans.”
Deontay’s management is negotiating a fight with WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne. They’re hoping the fight can take place in November, but it’s still not known at this time whether Stiverne’s injured hand will be healed by that time. Deontay doesn’t want to sit and get rusty while waiting for the title shot, so that’s why his team decided to get him a stay busy fight on August 16th.
The Wilder vs. Gavern fight will take place on the undercard of the Shawn Porter vs. Kell Brook card on Showtime.
