The long-overdue mandatory fight between heavyweight titlist Bermane Stiverne and Deontay Wilder appears to be set.
Two sources involved in the fight told ESPN.com that the fight is ticketed for Jan. 17 on Showtime at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Multiple purse bids were postponed, and then it was finally canceled as the camps slogged through a brutal negotiation. When they finally made a deal, they still didn’t have an exact date or site, but the fight had to take place no later than the first quarter of 2015.
Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs), 36, a native of Haiti living and training in Las Vegas, knocked out Chris Arreola in the sixth round on May 10 in Los Angeles to win the world title vacated in December when Vitali Klitschko retired to focus on his political career in Ukraine.
Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs), 29, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was a 2008 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist and the last American man to medal in Olympic boxing. He has rolled to a perfect record and mandatory status despite never facing any opponent remotely close to being a top contender or going past the fourth round.