Canadian Bermane Stiverne will make his first defense of his World Boxing Council heavyweight world title against American Deontay Wilder on January 17 in Las Vegas, organisers said Sunday.

The hard-punching Stiverne won the vacant title with a sixth-round technical knockout of Chris Arreola on May 10, seizing the belt vacated by Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko when he stepped away from the ring in December of 2013.

The Haitian-born Stiverne knocked Arreola down twice in the sixth before the referee stopped the contest in the first heavyweight world title fight on US soil since 2009.

Twenty-one of the 36-year-old Stiverne's 24 victories have come inside the distance and he is unbeaten with one draw on his record.

Wilder, seven years Stiverne junior, is unbeaten in 32 fights, all won by knockout or technical knockout.

With a win he can become the first American-born fighter to win a heavyweight world title since Shannon Briggs briefly held the lightly regarded World Boxing Organization title in November 2006. - Sapa