Thursday 2 November 2017 15:51, UK
Deontay Wilder has vowed to defend his WBC heavyweight title in style at the Barclays Center this weekend, ending Bermane Stiverne’s career in the process.
Wilder meets Stiverne - live on Sky Sports in the early hours of Sunday morning - for the second time in his career, after claiming a unanimous decision win against the Haiti-born fighter in January 2015 to land the WBC title.
Stiverne has fought just once since his loss to Wilder but remains the only opponent in 38 fights to last the distance against the American.
Ahead of this weekend's clash in Brooklyn, Wilder said: "Stiverne is going to see me come to Barclays Center and finish the job on Saturday.
"He survived the first time. He's the only one to survive on their feet. This is something that I've come back to. I will finish the job this time.
"Stiverne had a lot of excuses after the last fight. Nobody wants to hear excuses from the loser. He knows what happened. I beat him 12 rounds in a row.
"I thought the first Stiverne fight should have been stopped. He had knots all over his faced and was concussed. I'm not trying to leave any doubt this time around.
"I think this fight will be even easier for me. He hasn't improved since we last fought, but I'm going to show him a whole new Deontay Wilder. This is the end of Bermane Stiverne's career right here."
But Stiverne is in bullish mood heading into the showdown, insisting health issues were behind his poor performance against Wilder first time round.
"I have no fear heading into this fight. It's not that I didn't see the openings in the last fight, I just couldn't physically perform how I needed to," he said.
"I had health concerns last fight but now I've turned the chapter on that and I'm focused on Saturday night. This is going to be a completely different fight this time around.
"The stage is set and my destiny is in front of me. I always said I was going to be the first person to beat him, and that is going to come together on Saturday.
"Everything has been perfect in camp. Deontay is going to be in for a real rude awakening on Saturday. I'm going to let my fists do the talking for me."
Watch Deontay Wilder defend his WBC world heavyweight title against Bermane Stiverne, live on Sky Sports, in the early hours of Sunday morning at 1am. Before that, Dmitry Bivol, Jamie McDonnell, Dereck Chisora and Scott Quigg box in Monte Carlo, live on Sky Sports from 7pm this Saturday.
