"We not backing up from anybody. They say Wilder, we'll take Wilder. It doesn't make me any difference. I'm not worried about a guy like Wilder. Wilder hasn't fought a guy in the top 500. And he hasn't been past the 4th round. So I'm debating, should we take him in deep waters and let him see what it feels like or should we knock him out in the first 3 rounds? I know Deontay Wilder is getting knocked out in the gym with headgear on. Everybody telling me, so I'm not worried about Wilder. Wilder is 220 and he's 6'7". He is skinny as hell...frail," stated Don House, world-class trainer of WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne, who talked about their victory over Chris Arreola, their future plans, and much more. Check it out!
PC: Congratulations on capturing that WBC strap. What did you think of Bermane's performance?
DH: Some had the fight sort of lopsided, but I looked at it a little different. We almost knocked him out in the 1st round, 2nd round he took and then lost the 3rd and 4th because he just didn't do anything, and that's when I kind of got on his case. I said, "Man, what are we doing here? Stay off the ropes," and he said, "Hey man, I got him!" And then the 5th and 6th, that was the end of the fight. I thought he did well, but of course I'm a coach; I always want more. And we laid back with Chris. We knew Chris was gonna bring it to us, but it's always different strategies for different opponents. And we knew we didn't have to find Chris. We could just lay back and make him run into something, and that's what he did.
PC: If either guy was known as the mover in that fightm, it would have been Bermane. Were you concerned when you saw how small the ring was?
DH: Nah because the first time they had a small ring, I remember thinking, "I hope they don't think this is to Chris advantage." I was thinking great. I asked Bermane what he thought about the size of the ring and he said he loved it because now he could find him. I love small rings.
PC: He was definitely letting Chris back into the fight and you seemed concerned. Was that simply because he knew eventually Chris would over commit because he was having some success moving forward?
DH: That was him tying to set him up because I said, "B, we worked on being on the ropes," because we knew Chris is gonna bring it to you. You look at his fight with Seth Mitchell, he jumped right on Seth Mitchell, so I knew he would bring it right to B, but I knew he couldn't hurt him and I knew he was gonna get caught. Chris was never gonna get through 12 rounds in that fight. So we was so ready to knock him out.
PC: In all of the pre-fight interviews, it seemed like Chris would be more than prepared for the right hand. Was it shocking that that's still the punch that started all of the trouble for him?
DH: I think that first hook caught him and stunned him a little bit. When you start getting caught with shots and you figure out them shots hurt...that first hook hurt him and he kind of forgot about...see, Chris is the kind of guy, he will throw a punch and drop his hands on the inside, and Bermane is such a strong right hand puncher and he's sneaky with it.
PC: Both times these two guys fought, it was a lot of on again and off again. Was it tough keeping Bermane motivated through all of the setbacks?
DH: Well, you know what? That's been our whole career. Every fight is on again, off again. When we beat Ray Austin, we were gonna fight for the title and then we weren't gonna fight for the title. We had to fight for the #1 spot again. Then we gonna fight Klitschko, Klitschko didn't want to fight us, then we were gonna fight him again. I mean, our whole career has been that way. No one has paved our way; no one has bought our opponents. We've earned every color on that belt. And we did it the, I wouldn't say hard way; I would say we did it the right way.
PC: Obviously he's enjoying himself right now and enjoying the win, but we are hearing it may be Wilder or Wladimir. He may not be thinking about it right now, but as his trainer, I'm sure you are.
DH: When I first met Bermane, when I first told him I had a heavy bag in the gym, the bag was about 7 feet tall and about 3 feet in diameter and about 900 pounds. When he started cracking that bag and pushing that bag around, I had it on a rail system, I said, "You know what? You are very strong, I'm gonna teach you how to beat these Klitschkos." Now that was just a formation because at that time, I didn't think those guys would still have those belts. Every fight I trained him for was Klitschko. Every fight in between, I didn't care about. We got rid of one of them. He quit on us. I wanted to knock them out. But either one of these guys is easy. They are tailor-made for a guy like Bermane; tailor-made. I mean, look at Tyson. Tyson was a giant killer. Only problem Tyson had was with guys his size, like Evander Holyfield. But them tall boys, realistically, what do they bring to the table? If you can get past the jab and slip that right hand, there is nothing else they can do. They can't do anything else. One thing about Bermane, that boy can hit with both hands, he can move, he can go to the body like a lightweight, and he's powerful. The big boys, they are in trouble. They can't block all of that body.
PC: And when you see his physical stature, he's so bulky, I think a lot of people underestimate his conditioning, which seems to be in tact as well.
DH: Nah brother, we get stronger as the fight goes. Listen, my workout routine, we pulling tires up mountains, we running mountains, and I'm out there with him. I don't say, "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow, go run!" Nah brother, I'm out there with him. The thing about this game, and any game for that matter, when you talk about competition, it's all about being in shape. You remember when the UNLV Running Rebels used to run through everybody in basketball?
PC: Yes I do.
DH: They wasn't the best team on the planet, but they were the best conditioned team on the planet. They would run you to death. So if you see me with a fighter and he is my fighter, you better believe that he's gonna be in dog shape; if nothing else, he gonna be in shape.
PC: How soon would you like to see him back in there?
DH: November. We already talking about November and trying to get something for then. We wanna get something lined up for then. You got Wladimir talking about he wanna defend the IBF; we got Wilder crying and yelling at us. I think what everybody forgets is, when you win a title, you get to pick your opponent the first fight out. But we not backing up from anybody. They say Wilder, we'll take Wilder. It doesn't make me any difference. I'm not worried about a guy like Wilder. Wilder hasn't fought a guy in the top 500. And he hasn't been past the 4th round. So I'm debating, should we take him in deep waters and let him see what it feels like or should we knock him out in the first 3 rounds? I know Deontay Wilder is getting knocked out in the gym with headgear on. Everybody telling me, so I'm not worried about Wilder. Wilder is 220 and he's 6'7". He is skinny as hell. Now if you were Lebron James, Lebron James is a real man. What is he, 6'7" or 6'8" and he weighs 255 pounds. That's a real soldier; no fat and athletic. If we had that in front of us, I'm a little concerned, but we got 220 at 6'7"...frail.
PC: I know it's been a long hard road for you and Bermane, but you guys earned and deserved everything you're getting right now. Best of luck and congrats again. Is there anything else you want to add?
DH: Thank you for doing the interview. Like you said, it has been a long and hard road, but it's been a fun road. This is a game. We not angry at anybody. We just know that sometimes real soldiers have to go through what real soldiers go through. Now we are here, we got the belt, and we gonna do our damnedest to hold on to it.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]