Tyson Fury vs. Steve Cunningham

Heavyweight contenders Steve Cunningham and Tyson Fury will do battle on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York in a fight that will be televised by NBC. Let’s take a look at this IBF heavyweight eliminator bout.

Tyson Fury comes into this fight with a record of 20-0 with 14 knockouts while Steve Cunningham is 25-5 with 12 knockouts. Boxing oddsmakers have made Fury more than a 5-1 favorite to win this fight. The winner of this bout on Saturday will move up to #2 in the IBF rankings and remain on track to get a title shot against heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

This fight will be the first one in the United States for Fury who was actually named after Mike Tyson. Fury comes into this fight unbeaten but we still are not quite sure just how good he is. He definitely has the frame at 6’9″ and the power to dominate any fighter he faces including the more experienced Cunningham. Fury does have wins over Dereck Chisora, Vinnie Maddalone and Kevin Johnson but Cunningham could be his toughest test to date. Fury has definitely been running his mouth in advance of this fight, telling anyone who will listen how he is going to destroy Cunningham. “I’m a man on a mission,” Fury said. “I mean business. Your heavyweight run is coming to an end. I’m going to retire you Steve.”

Cunningham has definitely taken all of Fury’s trash talk personally and he is very motivated to win this fight on Saturday. The problem he has is getting close enough to do damage to Fury without getting crushed. Cunningham realizes this fight on Saturday is a big chance for him to prove he can compete in the heavyweight division. “I’m gonna do it now with the lights on us. NBC on us, America, the world watching. I’ve been motivated,” Cunningham said.

Saturday’s fight can be seen live on NBC on Saturday afternoon.

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