Former WBC heavyweight world champion Bermane Stiverne spoke to Hard Rock Bet and assessed the current heavyweight landscape.
Stiverne, who fought Deontay Wilder twice, believes the American has little to no chance of causing a shock and defeating Oleksandr Usyk should they fight in 2026.
Alongside previewing the potential showdown between British rivals Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, Stiverne also analyzed Mike Tyson’s upcoming exhibition fight against Floyd Mayweather.
Usyk vs Wilder
The conversation began with discussion on the rumored heavyweight showdown.
Mauricio Sulaiman has reportedly approved the potential fight between Oleksandr Usyk and your former opponent, Deontay Wilder. What do you make of this fight?
Bermane Stiverne: No, I have to go with Usyk, of course. I think a lot of people believe that right now, Oleksandr Usyk is the number one Pound for Pound fighter right now. He’s proven himself. There’s nothing you can take away from him right now. He’s the man.
Just like once upon a time, Tyson Fury was the man but right now, Usyk is on top of his game and Usyk is definitely the man to beat right now.
I don’t think Deontay Wilder has the power or ability to defeat Oleksandr Usyk. First of all, he’s a southpaw. He can box, he can move, and the way he positions himself — his angles and everything like that is going to give Wilder a lot of problems. No, I don’t think Oleksandr Usyk should have any issues if they fight next.
What was it like to fight Deontay when he was in his prime?
Bermane Stiverne: Well, I think it was — from what I remember — he had a lot of power. The power was there. Right now, it’s not. I don’t think it’s about his skill or anything like that. I think it’s probably hunger.
Fighters are more hungry earlier in their careers than they are later on. From what I’ve seen in his past four or five fights, it’s not the same anymore.
That doesn’t mean he can’t win a fight, because you know boxing — all it takes is one shot, one good shot, and the fight can turn around. He’s still very dangerous. He’s still a dangerous fighter with power.
But I don’t think Oleksandr Usyk would make a mistake [with Wilder’s power]. From what I’ve seen in Usyk’s last few fights, and then comparing that to Wilder’s last few fights, Usyk has better tools, better awareness, and better control.
You can see he’s the type of fighter who’s not going to make a mistake where he puts himself in a position to get knocked out. He might get dropped — this is boxing — but as far as making the ultimate mistake and losing by knockout, I don’t see it happening.
On Tyson vs Mayweather
Next, the discussion turned to Tyson vs Mayweather and boxing exhibitions.
Mike Tyson is set to face Floyd Mayweather next year, what do you make of the exhibition fight?
Bermane Stiverne: It should be fun to watch. I don’t have anything against exhibitions as long as it’s two fighters — real fighters. I think when Tank Davis was supposed to fight Jake Paul, that was ridiculous. That wasn’t something I was interested in watching. It was just ridiculous with the weight difference.
But when you have good fighters — actual fighters or ex-fighters — it’s different. These are two legends, so that makes it more interesting.
Floyd Mayweather is the one who really opened the door to that type of exhibition and made it popular. Especially when he fought the guy from the UFC in Conor McGregor. After that, everybody decided to jump on it and mix it up.
It was done in the past with Muhammad Ali, but Floyd mimicked those kinds of fights and made them more popular than they used to be. Mike Tyson is a legend of the sport so I have nothing bad to say about this and think it will be a fun fight.
Tyson Fury’s Return
Finally, will Tyson Fury make a return to the ring in 2026?
Tyson Fury is reportedly coming back into boxing in 2026. What is next for him, should he fight Anthony Joshua or look to win a world title?
Bermane Stiverne: Both. For me, if that fight had happened earlier — Fury and Joshua — it would have been bigger than it is now. These are two guys from England, and that would have been magic. That would have been a great fight.
If it had happened a few years ago when they were both champions, it would have been unbelievable. I don’t even know the words to describe how big that would have been in England. It would have been something out of this world.
It didn’t happen, unfortunately. It would have been bigger back then than it is today, but it can still be a big fight — just like other fights that happened later than expected like Mayweather vs Pacquiao. They’re still big, just not as big as they could have been.
As far as Fury goes, why not? I think he should be able to get a fight with Anthony Joshua and then try to become a three-time world champion. We still have time. He’s still young. He still has the skills. So why not?
He has had a great career from the three fights with Deontay Wilder and returning like he did after time out from beating the man in Wladimir Klitschko.
He can still do more and with there being other titles available [Fabio Wardley’s WBO title], he should definitely look to become a three time heavyweight champion and even try to set up a trilogy fight against Oleksandr Usyk.
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