Stiverne ready to take the final big step

There are less than two weeks left for Bermane Stiverne to deal with. Then he can control his destiny and fulfill his dream of becoming heavyweight champion of the world.

Stiverne (23-1-1, 20 knockouts) faces Chris Arreola on May 10 at the University of Southern California’s Galen Center on ESPN in a rematch of their April 27, 2013, fight that saw Stiverne break Arreola’s nose in the third round and cruise to a 12-round unanimous decision victory.

But the circumstances are much different this time — the winner becomes the World Boxing Council champion, taking over for Vitali Klitschko, who retired in December to get into politics in his native Ukraine.

“It’s a long time coming,” Stiverne, 35, said. “I’ve been patient for quite a while. But I’m excited about this opportunity, and I believe I will be crowned heavyweight champion of the world.”

For Stiverne, who was born in Haiti and moved to Miami and then Montreal before settling in Las Vegas in 2007, it doesn’t matter that he won’t get to try and beat Klitschko. In fact, he’s treating his win over Arreola as if it never happened.

“It wasn’t about who I was going to fight,” he said. “I just knew I’d be fighting for the title.

“I expect Chris to be in shape this time, and I expect he will bring the best out of me. But this time, I will knock him out.”

Stiverne said his right shoulder, which was not 100 percent when he faced Arreola last year, is fine and his training at Floyd Mayweather’s gym off Spring Mountain Road has gone better than he could have hoped.

“We’ve been working since December, getting ready for this opportunity,” Stiverne said. “I’ve sacrificed a lot for this. I’ve literally turned my back on my loved ones, preparing for this fight. But this is the only way I know how to do it.”

■ MAYWEATHER-MAIDANA OFFICIALS — Las Vegas’ Tony Weeks will referee Saturday’s welterweight title fight between Mayweather and Marcos Maidana at the MGM Grand Garden. The judges will be Dave Moretti of Las Vegas, Burt Clements of Reno and Michael Pernick of Florida.

Reno’s Vic Drakulich will referee the welterweight bout between Amir Khan and Luis Collazo on the Mayweather-Maidana undercard. The judges will be Jerry Roth and Adalaide Byrd of Las Vegas and Cathy Leonard of North Carolina.

Officials for the Adrien Broner-Carlos Molina junior welterweight fight and the J’Leon Love-Marco Antonio Periban super middleweight fight will be announced next week.

■ FLOYD’S ARRIVAL — Mayweather, Maidana and the undercard fighters, including Khan, Broner and Love, will make their official arrival at the MGM Grand lobby Tuesday beginning at 1 p.m.

The fighters’ arrival is free and open to the public. Mayweather is expected at 3 p.m.

■ CLEAN TESTS — According to Nevada Athletic Commission chairman Francisco Aguilar, Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley passed their drug tests from their April 12 fight at the MGM. Aguilar also said there were no positive tests from any of the undercard fighters.

■ SUCCESS IN SOFIA — USA Boxing captured three gold medals and the team title at the World Youth Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Thursday. Flyweight Shakur Stevenson of Newark, N.J., heavyweight Darmaniu Rock of Philadelphia and female lightweight Jajaira Gonzalez of Glendora, Calif. each won their final bout to help the Americans win the team title.

Las Vegas’ Sharif Rahman was a member of the U.S. team but lost his first bout in the light heavyweight division, 3-0, to Romania’s Paul Aradoaie.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.