Don King's $1.1 million purse bid to promote the Chris Arreola-Bermane Stiverne WBC heavyweight eliminator bout doubled that of counterpart Dan Goossen. 
A Saturday press conference is in the works for smack-talkers Adrien Broner and Paulie Malignaggi.
King bids $1.1 million to promote Arreola-Stiverne
|
Promoter Don King's $1.1 million to that of $550,000 by counterpart Dan Goossen won Saturday's WBC purse bid and the right to handle the organization's heavyweight elimination bout between contenders Chris Arreola, of Riveside, Calif., and Haitian-born Bermane Stiverne, of Las Vegas, according to Zanfer Promotions' Sean Gibbons, who was on hand for the event at The Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. Golden Boy Promotions bid $512,000, and WealthTV, $132,000, for Arreola-Stiverne, whose winner would be in line to challenge 41-year-old WBC titleholder Vitali Klitschko (45-2, 41 knockouts). Klirschko scored his 13th straight win and his 10th stoppage victory during that run against Manuel Charr (21-1, 11 KOs) on Sept. 8. King, who promotes Stiverne, could not be reached for an immediate comment. "I'm just happy that we've gotten this process over with, and we can get on with the fight. Don's got, I believe, 10 days, they said, to give a location and a date. I'd like it to be anywhere where there's a ring inside," said Goossen, who promotes Arreola. "I was certainly looking to do it in November. If I had won it, that's where I was going to obviously go to. I've got a good working relationship with Don, and he put in a very strong bid." The 6-foot-4 Arreola (35-2, 30 KOs) will be after his eighth straight win, his sixth knockout during that span and his third consecutive stoppage victory against Stiverne (22-1-1, 20 KOs). Arreola, 31, has not been in the ring since February, when he came up with a first-round knockout over Eric Molina (19-2, 14 KOs). Arreola suffered his two losses against Klitschko by 10th-round knockout in September 2009, and by majority decision to Tomasz Adamek in April of 2010. Stiverne, 33, is 10-0-1, with eight knockouts in his past 11 fights, including five first-round stoppages during that time. Stiverne's lone defeat was by fourth-round knockout against Demetrice King in July of 2007.
Lem Satterfield can be reached at lemuel.satterfield@gmail.com |