Wilder scores a surprising decision for a heavyweight belt

LAS VEGAS – A lot was promised. Return to Glory, the ads said. The glory will have to wait. But there was a return of sorts. An American-born fighter has regained a version of the heavyweight title.

Deontay Wilder did it Saturday night with a unanimous decision, taking the World Boxing Council’s belt from a plodding Bermane Stiverne Saturday night at the MGM Grand.

“I’m so happy to bring the belt back to America, officially,’’ said Wilder, the first American-born champ since Shannon Briggs won a belt in the bout’s final second of a 2006 walk-off knockout of Sergey Liakhovich in a ring above the pitcher’s mound at the Arizona Diamondbacks home field in downtown Phoenix.

Briggs victory didn’t exactly re-conquer an old American possession. Then, the flag went up and came down in Banana Republic time. It’s hard to know whether Wilder’s victory will result in any real permanence. For now, however, it’s a foothold by a young heavyweight still learning his trade

“I want to be around for a long, long time,’’ Wilder (33-0, 32 KOs) said over the Haitian-born Stiverne 24-2-1, 21 KOs).

Translation: He wants to make history. He talked about history after the one- sided scorecards – 120-107, 118-109 and 119-108 – were announced.

Wilder dedicated his victory to Muhammad Ali, who turned 73 Saturday. He talked about civil rights leader Martin
Luther King, whose national holiday will be celebrated Monday.

“Martin Luther King, he shocked the world,’’ Wilder said. “I shook it.’’

Truth is, he only shook only Stivrne a few times, once in the fifth round and again in the seventh. It was in the seventh that it looked as if Wilder would keep his unbeaten record perfect. But another stoppage eluded him.

Wilder threw s a straight right, a deadly fastball, which knocked Stiverne on to his heels and backpedaling across the canvas. Only the ropes kept the Haitian’s 239 pounds from crushing a customer or two in the ringside seats. Those same ropes also might have kept him upright. He was dazed. But not done.

Stiverne, blood dripping from a cut above one eye, kept moving forward, yet never throwing, much less landing, more than a punch or two at a time.

“I just wasn’t ready,’’Stiverne said. “I didn’t cut off the ring the way I wanted to.’’

The biggest surprise was Wilder’s ability to go 12 rounds. He had never been beyond four. His elusiveness throughout the bout helped explain why he was a skinny 219 pounds at the weigh-in Friday. Wilder, 6-foot- 6 ½, trained to be quick. He was able to say away from Stiverne.

“Who can’t box, who can’t box?’’ Wilder yelled at press row after the final bell.

Maybe, Wilder can. But the jury is still out on that one.

In the 10th, there were scattered boos from the crowd of 8,453. If Wladimir Klitschko was watching the Showtime telecast from his home n Germany, he probably didn’t lose any sleep at what he saw.

The pace had slowed to a deadly crawl. In the end, however, Wilder had the smarts and conditioning to reach the finish line. He won a significant fight and got a belt for his efforts. But the real test, that test of time, is just a beginning.

WBC Super Bantamweight World Champion Leo Santa Cruz defended his crown for the fourth time with an eighth-round TKO of Jesus Ruiz and afterword called out fellow champions Abner Mares and Guillermo Rigondeaux in the co-feature of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING.

The early rounds were close and competitive and Ruiz, a heavy underdog, seemed to be a tougher test than he looked on paper. But it was clear that Santa Cruz was landing the cleaner shaper punches. The former bantamweight world champion landed some meaningful shots and had Ruiz in trouble in the seventh and, for the first time, it appeared that he could finish Ruiz.

Santa Cruz (29-0-1, 17 KOs) came out blazing in the eighth, landed a big right cross to kick off the round and continued to tee-off on the challenger. In trouble against the ropes and not fighting back, referee Kenny Bayless jumped in and stopped the bout with Ruiz (32-6-5, 21 KOs) still on his feet at :29 of the eighth round. The champion landed 43 percent of his total punches and nearly 50 percent of his power punches, while landing an impressive 73 power shots to the body.

“Like I expected, it was a war,” Santa Cruz said. “He came prepared. We hurt him and we didn’t let the chance go away. We kept going after him and we stopped him. I hurt him with the right hand. I knew he was hurt so I went after him. I knew Kenny Bayless would stop it because he wasn’t throwing punches.

“I want the best and I want to please the fans. I want (Abner) Mares, I want (Guillermo) Rigondeaux. Hopefully our next fight is against one of the best.”

Ruiz, who only landed 22 percent of his total punches, disagreed with the stoppage.

“I want a rematch,” Ruiz said. “I don’t feel they should have stopped the fight, but I have to accept it. But I’m fine. Look at me – I’m not cut. He didn’t even drop me.”

In the opening bout of the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast, undefeated super lightweight Amir Imam floored Fidel Maldonado Jr. four times and scored a fifth-round TKO in a brawl that featured five total knockdowns.

Maldonado was the busier fighter, but Imam floored the Albuquerque resident for the fourth time in his career with a short right just a moment before the bell rang to end the second. Then, in an early candidate for Round of the Year that featured three knockdowns, Maldonado responded by knocking down Imam for the first time in his career 30 seconds into the third with a solid straight left. Imam bounced back and sent Maldonado to the canvas with a huge right with 20 seconds left in the third and then again with a straight right as part of a vicious attack with less than 10 seconds left in the round.

The action continued and Imam (16-0, 14 KOs) floored Maldonado for the fourth time in the fight with a short right followed by a left hook just seconds before the bell to close the fifth. Maldonado (19-3, 16 KOs) got up but was wobbling and referee Robert Byrd halted the contest at 2:59. Imam’s power was the difference, landing 50 percent of his power shots.

“It was a tough knockdown, but champions get up and finish the fight hard and that’s what I did,” Imam said. “I just had to stay composed and do what I had to do. “I started timing him. When I hit him with that good shot he was out. I could see it. That was the rope-a-dope. I was swinging for the fences and that was it, baby.

“I’m ready for the title shot right now. I just want to fight for the title.”

Four of the five knockdowns occurred with less than 30 seconds left in each round. After the fight, Maldonado admitted that he simply failed to protect himself when the rounds were winding down.

“I just got caught with a couple of punches,” Maldonado said. “He kept his composure and he came out with the W. I just got caught. I got lazy in there and he capitalized. He was the better man tonight. I got kind of bored at the end of the rounds and I paid for it.”

In the main event of SHOWTIME BOXING on SHO EXTREME, undefeated light heavyweight prospect Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (12-0, 10 KOs) kept his perfect record intact with a thoroughly convincing TKO victory of Garrett Wilson (13-9-1, 7 KOs).

Shabranskyy kept his distance and was very effective; landing 48 percent of his power shot and threw more than 60 punches in each round. The Ukrainian prospect scored a knockdown with a right in the closing seconds of the second and another with a clean right in the final 10 seconds of the eighth, sending Wilson face first to the canvas. Wilson beat the count but was saved by the bell as Shabranskyy unloaded more than a dozen consecutive punches.

The durable Wilson took a tremendous beating in the ninth and seemingly didn’t land a punch, forcing referee Jay Nady to stop the bout after the ninth upon suggestion of the ringside physician.

In the opening bout of the SHO EXTREME telecast, heavyweight Eric Molina (23-2, 17 KOs) defeated Raphael Zumbano (32-9-1, 25 KOs) via eighth round TKO in a one-sided affair.

Molina, who landed 76 percent of his power shots and more than 50 percent of his total punches, was connecting at will when referee Russell Mora halted the contest at 1:28 of the eighth.

In a non-televised swing bout, Cesar Quinonez (1-0, 1 KO), a Las Vegas native and the first fighter to go professional from Fernando Vargas’ gym Feroz Fight Factory, made his professional debut and scored a knockout win over Chula Vista’s Joan Valenzuela (1-2) in the second round at 2:13.