--- description: Deontay Wilder arrived home in Alabama as the newly crowned heavyweight champion of the world on Sunday. title: Deontay Wilder: 'This Is Just the Beginning' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca09c41b87a19690/69877aa70b72e3116b6dd341/deontay-wilder.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Sports](/section/sports/) ## Sports Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Boxing](/tag/boxing/) ## Boxing Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # First U.S. Heavyweight Champ in 8 Years Deontay Wilder Says It's Just the Beginning by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 19, 2015 7:53 AM CUT  Deontay Wilder celebrates after defeating WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on January 17, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Wilder took the title by unanimous decision. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images) Deontay Wilder celebrates after defeating WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on January 17, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Wilder took the title by unanimous decision. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images)Steve Marcus — Getty Images by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 19, 2015 7:53 AM CUT Deontay Wilder arrived home in Alabama Sunday as the newly crowned heavyweight champion of the world, and the first American to lay claim to one of the sporting world’s most prestigious titles in eight years. Wilder [secured](http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/%5F/id/12187869/deontay-wilder-decisions-bermane-stiverne-become-first-american-heavyweight-champion-2006 "undefined") the WBC heavyweight title on Saturday night in front of a packed house at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, after delivering a bruising, one-sided whipping to Canada’s Bermane Stiverne to win the belt. Following the bout, the Bronze Bomber tweeted a portrait of himself in a tuxedo to show off the lack of damage he incurred during the 12-round unanimous victory. Upon arrival at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport on Sunday, the champ appeared to have already set his sights on the future. “This is just the beginning,” Wilder [told](http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/01/tuscaloosas%5Fdeontay%5Fwilder%5Farr.html "undefined") local media outlets. “It’s a great feeling to be the WBC champ of the world, but there’s more to gain from this.” Wilder is the first U.S. fighter to win one of boxing’s heavyweight titles since Shannon Briggs lost the WBO belt to Sultan Ibragimov in 2007\. Since then, a majority of the world’s heavyweight belts have remained under the domain of Ukraine’s Klitschko brothers. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3673333/deontay-wilder-wins-wbc-heavyweight-title-las-vegas/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3673333/deontay-wilder-wins-wbc-heavyweight-title-las-vegas/"},"headline":"First U.S. Heavyweight Champ in 8 Years Deontay Wilder Says It's Just the Beginning","datePublished":"2015-01-19T07:53:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:40:59.933Z","description":"The Tuscaloosa native is back home in Alabama after his victory over Canada’s Bermane Stiverne","url":"https://time.com/3673333/deontay-wilder-wins-wbc-heavyweight-title-las-vegas/","keywords":["Boxing"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca09c41b87a19690/69877aa70b72e3116b6dd341/deontay-wilder.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Stout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-stout/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca09c41b87a19690/69877aa70b72e3116b6dd341/deontay-wilder.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bermane Stiverne v Deontay Wilder","caption":"Bermane Stiverne v Deontay Wilder","creditText":"Steve Marcus — Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/boxing/","name":"Boxing"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3673333/deontay-wilder-wins-wbc-heavyweight-title-las-vegas/","name":"First U.S. Heavyweight Champ in 8 Years Deontay Wilder Says It's Just the Beginning"}}]}] ```