The wait for an American heavyweight champion is over.

Deontay Wilder turned in a star-making performance has he bludgeoned Bermane Stiverne over twelve one-sided rounds.

Wilder answered a lot of questions about his ability to go twelve rounds and whether or not he could take a punch. In control for the majority of the fight, Wilder took the WBC belt with scores of 120-107, 119-108, and 118-109.

"I'm so excited. I'm excited to bring this belt back to America, officially," Wilder said. "It's going to mean a lot."

No one knew exactly how good Wilder was. Critics pointed to the fact that he had been knocked down earlier in his career and that he had never been past four rounds. Not to mention a fight resume that contains 32 no-hopers.

"I think I answered a lot of questions tonight," Wilder said. "We knew we could go 12 rounds. We knew we could take a punch. All the hard work was done in camp. I had fun. I'm just excited."

Wilder (33-0, 32 KOs), 29, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, became the first American to win a heavyweight title since Shannon Briggs, who lost in his first defense to Russia's Sultan Ibragimov seven months later. Since then, the belts have resided in Europe, mainly with the Klitschko brothers.

"He proved everyone wrong," said Jay Deas, who co-trains Wilder with Mark Breland. "Can he go 12 rounds? Yes, he can. Does he have a power punch? Yes, he does. Can he beat adversity? Yes, he can. Can he be the next heavyweight champion of the world? And yes, he is."

Bermane Stiverne, however, showed very little head movement or an understanding of how to cut off the ring.

"I think I spent too much time in the gym," said Stiverne, who lives in Las Vegas, grew up in Canada and is the only Haitian-born heavyweight titleholder. "We started training in August. I was ready in November, and then we had to cut things back a little bit. That had an effect on why I wasn't myself tonight."

While Wilder landed 227 of 621 punches (37 percent), according to CompuBox statistics, Stiverne landed just 110 of 327 (34 percent).

"Wilder definitely won it. He did a great job," said Don King, Stiverne's promoter. "He was having fun. I'm very surprised he won so easily. But you can't win a fight without throwing punches. This is not a waltz. I've seen it happen many times before. It's just the way it goes. I have to take off my hat to Deontay. Stiverne wasn't active enough. All praise to Deontay Wilder."

Stiverne is a good puncher, however, and he tested Wilder's chin on a few occasions.

"I definitely showed the world what I am capable of," Wilder said. "I really didn't think it would go four rounds, but he could take a great punch, so I thought we might be in for the long haul."

They began to trade and jaw at each other in the second round before Wilder appeared to stun Stiverne in the final seconds. Stiverne lurched forward and they wound up toppling to the mat, but referee Tony Weeks did not rule a knockdown.

Hard punches were exchanged in the fifth round, and the 6-foot-7, 219-pound Wilder wobbled the 6-2, 239-pound Stiverne with a right hand. When Stiverne connected with a clean left hook in the sixth, Wilder did not budge.

As the fight wore on, Wilder began to move more and Stiverne was obviously frustrated, shouting at Wilder in the sixth round, "Stand here and fight!"

Wilder had a huge seventh round, hurting Stiverne and sending him into the ropes with a right hand. In fact, Wilder landed several of them and Stiverne somehow managed to stay on his feet even though Wilder outlanded him 23-4 in the round.

"We knew he would try to come, and we knew he was tough. He got a great chin," Wilder said. "I appreciate him accepting the challenge. I just wanted to show the world what Deontay Wilder was capable of. I don't want anyone to doubt me anymore."

Stiverne continued to walk into Wilder's right hand in the ninth. His head would snap, and his eyes were swelling. Clearly in need of a knockout, Stiverne tried to press Wilder in the 12th round, but he looked way too  fatigued.

"I felt 100 percent, but I couldn't cut the ring off like I usually do," Stiverne said. "I have to go back and look and see what happened and what mistakes I made. I was throwing hard punches, but I could only throw two of them at a time. I have to figure out what happened. I wasn't able to do what I wanted to do in the ring tonight. I don't want to take anything away from him. He fought a great fight, but I was not ready."

When the fight was over, Wilder shouted to the Showtime cameras, "Who can't box? Who can't box?"

What's next for Wilder?

"I want to bring excitement back to the heavyweight division," he said. "And I don't want to sit around. I want to fight four times a year. Whoever's ready, I'm ready."

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Floyd Mayweather Jr likes to taunt folks. This time he began heckling Matt Barnes of the Los Angeles Clippers.

After the Clippers lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 126-121, Barnes refused to talk to reporters about the incident with Mayweather. Instead the 34-year-old told them he was only taking basketball-related questions.

“I’m trying to talk about basketball,” he said. “I don’t give a (expletive) about no one off the court. … We talk about basketball or I’m not talking.”

Clippers Coach Doc Rivers was a bit more diplomatic in his approach.

“I don’t like it, obviously,” Rivers said (via Fox Sports), quickly adding, however, that “Matt played well. It didn’t distract him. I didn’t see it, so I don’t want to comment on it.”

Barnes racked up 17 points and had eight rebounds at the game, which was also attended by Jay-Z and Beyoncé.

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Lamont Peterson will face Danny Garcia on April 11 as part of a plan by NBC to bring boxing back to free , major network TV.

Peterson (33-2-1, 17 knockouts) is the IBF claimant. Garcia (29-0, 17 KOs) is the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council title holder. Rumors are that the bout will take place at Barclays Center. The 26-year-old Garcia, a native of Philadelphia, has a strong following in Brooklyn.

“Fans have been wanting the fight for a long time,” Peterson said in a telephone interview. “Of course I’ve wanted the fight for a long time. I knew it would eventually happen. It took patience, but it couldn’t happen at a better time. It’s part of a big movement. It’s more than just me and Danny Garcia. It’s about bringing the fights back to NBC, to free TV.”

NBC announced Wednesday a 20-fight package, dubbed the “Premier Boxing Champions” series, that will be shown live on both the flagship channel and NBC Sports Network. NBC will carry five Saturday night cards and six more on Saturday afternoons, with the remaining nine on NBC Sports Network.

“We are looking forward to presenting the PBC on NBC to develop a new and exciting platform which will be embraced by the millions of boxing fans across the country,” said Jon Miller, president of programming for NBC and NBCSN.

NBC is partnering with Al Haymon, boxing's premiere power broker.

Mayweather will not be part of the PBC series. The undefeated five-division world champion has two fights remaining on a six-fight contract he signed with CBS and subsidiary network Showtime in early 2013. Mayweather is guaranteed at least $32 million per fight.

Bermane Stiverne has vowed that Deontay Wilder will pay for his trash talking this weekend.

Those threats are water off a duck's back to the Haitian-Canadian champion, who sounded composed and concentrated when he faced the press on arrival in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

"I really don't feel any emotions towards Deontay Wilder," said Stiverne, who won the vacant title when he stopped Chris Arreola last May. "The most important thing is for me to defend my world title.

"All the trash talking that he does doesn't worry me. He doesn't have anything that I want. I am the champ. This is fighting, this is boxing, this is for real. I keep my concentration on the fight."

Wilder has been taken beyond three rounds only four times but Stiverne, who at 36 is seven years older than the American, has prepared to go the distance.

He said: "We trained like he was the champion. We didn't talk about his past experience. We trained like he has gone 12 rounds before.

"I'm here to fight for the people. I fight to inspire people anywhere in the world, that's my responsibility since I am the world champion."

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Manny Pacquiao's promoters have declared that everything has been agreed to on their end. They are now waiting for Mayweather to put his signature to the contract.

However Mayweather has yet to agree to the contest, which would be on May 2 at Las Vegas' MGM Grand, and many commentators feel the fight will still not take place.

Carl Moretti, vice president of Top Rank, said: "Top Rank and Manny have agreed to the terms on our side. I don't know about the other side.

Pacquiao says he is willing to face his great rival after years of the pair avoiding each other and it is believed he has accepted a 40 per cent cut of what will be the richest fight in history.

The Filipino has also agreed to Mayweather's demands for drugs testing, which has been an obstacle in the past.

"I think that Manny agreed to USADA testing shows you his eagerness to make this fight," Moretti said.

Despite Pacquiao's willingness to fight, the final call lies with Mayweather and he will decide if the fight happens or not.

Amir Khan does not believe the bout will take place. Khan was in a similar position in the autumn of 2013 when he signed to fight Mayweather, only for the world's pound-for-pound king to opt to fight Marcos Maidana.

Earlier this month, Mayweather created controversy by showing off his line of luxury cars.

And Pacquiao responded by urged him to forget the bling and sign up for a much-anticipated clash between the long-time rivals.

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WBA/IBF Super Middleweight Champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KO) may indeed take on former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (48-1-1, 32 KO) on March 28th in Las Vegas.

According to Niall Hickman of The Daily Express, a deal is close to being struck as Froch's promoter, Eddie Hearn, and Chavez adviser Al Haymon are in talks.

Carl Froch scored a dramatic eighth round knockout in his last bout in front of over 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London. Froch has hinted at retirement unless he gets a big money fight in Las Vegas.

Chavez Jr has not been seen in the ring in over nine months. He still has considerably name value and a bout with Froch would certainly bring in the bucks at the box office.

"The fight with Chavez Jr is one of the five options that I do have and that's a fight that I can get motivated for, a fight that excites me," Froch told Sky Sports News last January.

"Going over to America to fight in Las Vegas is something that all British pros with big aspirations to do big things in boxing (want to do)."

Stylistically, this is all wrong for Chavez Jr. Froch is a versatile boxer/puncher with a steel chin. This is a white-wash for the "Cobra" but that is if the fight gets made as they have been talking about this for over a year and a half now.

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