CHRIS ARREOLA VS BERMANE STIVERNE II FINAL PRESS CONFERENCE TURNS UGLY

Source: THE RING Magazine - 05/08/2014

LOS ANGELES - “The Fight for Peace,” the promotional title for the Bermane Stiverne-Chris Arreola rematch, no longer applies to Saturday’s WBC heavyweight title match.

Not after Thursday’s heated final press conference at the Galen Center on USC’s campus, the site of the ESPN-televised fight.

The “peace” theme was in honor of Vitali Klitschko, the former WBC titleholder who abdicated the green belt to pursue social and political reform in his native Ukraine. Stiverne’s promoter, Don King, ran with that theme for at least an hour – torturing the card’s co-promoter Dan Goossen, the media in attendance and those watching the live stream on ESPN.com – before introducing his fighter to the podium.

Stiverne (23-1-1, 20 knockouts), who won the first bout by unanimous decision last April, dropping Arreola and breaking the Southern Californian’s nose in the process, normally needs a bombastic personally like King around to help garner attention. The 35-year-old Haitian is extremely low-key and often uncomfortable when interviewed on camera.