Navy Vet Steve Cunningham Cruises To Battleship Status

Published

12 years ago

September 7, 2012

Steve Cunningham

The two-time IBF champ is better known in Germany than his native Philadelphia…but he still plugs on, looking for that breakthrough opportunity. The heavyweight division is where the opportunity lies.

Sooner or later they all look up – well, a lot of them, anyway — and are hypnotized by the prestige and more substantial purses that presumably await in the heavyweight division. That’s why the really good light heavyweights of another era, and today’s cruiserweights, eventually fall under the spell of that familiar siren song. “The heavyweights are where the big bucks and the glory are,” the voice of temptation calls out to them, like the snake in the Garden of Eden beckoning Eve to chomp into the forbidden apple.

Some truly outstanding light heavyweights, Billy Conn, Archie Moore and Bob Foster among them, wandered north of their natural weight class to reach for delectable fruit that would so often prove beyond their grasp. But the snakes whose fangs sank so deeply into those heavyweight dreams, the Joe Louises, Rocky Marcianos and Joe Fraziers, were only somewhat larger than their marginally undersized opponents. Now the size gap between the heavyweight elite and the wannabes has widened by a considerable margin. It’s not just the dominant Klitschko brothers who are so much taller and heftier than the light heavys and cruisers daring to upgrade; it is not unusual for many world-ranked heavyweights to go 6-6 and 245 pounds or more. One recent holder of the WBA version of the title, Russia’s Nikolai Valuev, went 7 feet and 300-plus pounds.

But, hey, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, which is why the latest division-jumper to try his hand against the really big boys is two-time former IBF cruiserweight champion Steve “USS” Cunningham (24-4, 12 KOs), who makes his heavyweight debut Saturday night against journeyman Jason Gavern (21-10-4, 10 KOs) in a 10-rounder on the undercard of a show headlined by the 12-round pairing of Tomasz Adamek (46-2, 28 KOs) and Travis Walker (39-7-1, 31 KOs) in the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

Not coincidentally, Adamek also is a former IBF cruiserweight titlist who several years ago discovered that his sport’s rewards are potentially greater for bulked-up 200-pounders willing to risk a beatdown from a giant in exchange for heavyweight-sized recompense.

“It did,” Cunningham, a former petty officer second class in the U.S. Navy and father of three, said of the financial inducements that led him to attempt, at 36, to engage heavyweights who aren’t merely destroyers, but battleships and aircraft carriers. “I’m a two-time cruiserweight champion, but I haven’t seen even a percentage of those seven-figure purses. I made a couple of hundred thousand dollars for a fight here and there, but other than that, cruiserweights don’t do anything in America. That’s why I fought so often in Europe. I was chasing that lucrativeness.

“I know Marco Huck (a German) is making pretty good money as a cruiserweight, but I was an African-American fighting in Germany. I didn’t speak the language. We thought that my being a really good fighter was what mattered most, and it did to an extent. I feel I was pretty well accepted over there. But, you know, it’s not that easy to sell an American who doesn’t speak German when he’s fighting in Germany all the time.”

Join the Navy and see the world? Cunningham took up boxing relatively late, during his Navy enlistment, but it was the fight game as much as anything that kept his passport well-stamped. He has fought in South Africa (once), Poland (twice) and Germany (five times), most of the appearances in Germany coming after his eight-year contract with Don King Productions expired and he signed the best deal that was available upon his becoming a promotional free agent. That was with Sauerland Event’s Kalle Sauerland, who hoped to take advantage of Cunningham’s popularity in Europe that owed to his matchups with Poland’s Krzysztof Wlodarczyk and Adamek.

After capturing the IBF title on his second shot at Wlodarczyk, in Katowice, Poland, on June 26, 2007, Cunningham became one of boxing’s more frequent U.S. exports to Europe. He stopped the highly regarded Huck in the 12^th round of a dandy first defense, in Bielefeld, Germany. He then nearly overcame three knockdowns to relinquish his championship to Adamek on a rousing split decision on Dec. 11, 2008, at the Prudential Center. Many have called it the best cruiserweight fight of all time, although that memorable slugfest might have to share space on the top tier with Evander Holyfield’s 15-round split decision over Dwight Muhammad Qawi on July 12, 1986, and James Toney’s 12-round, unanimous decision over Vassily Jirov on April 26, 2003.

After two successful defenses of his IBF cruiser strap, Adamek moved up to heavyweight, clearing the way for Cunningham to again win that title when he stopped Troy Ross in five rounds in Neubrandenburg, Germany, on June 5, 2010. He again made one successful defense, outpointing Serbia’s Enad Licina in Muelheim, Germany, before a six-round, technical-decision setback to Germany-based Cuban Yoan Pablo Hernandez on Oct. 1, 2011, in Neubrandenburg. A rematch with Hernandez, this past Feb. 4 in Frankfurt, Germany, also didn’t end as Cunningham would have wanted as he lost a unanimous decision.

Cunningham might have continued to ply his trade before appreciative audiences across the pond, but he couldn’t resist the emotional pull of his home country and, more specifically, his hometown of Philadelphia.

“Germany has great boxing fans, but Philadelphia’s in my heart,” said Cunningham, who has continued to live in Philly since his discharge from military service. “I take Philly with me every time I go someplace else. I did it in the Navy, and I’m doing it in boxing, too.”

No doubt Cunningham’s decision to step up to heavyweight was influenced by his wife-manager, Livvy, and his new promoter, Kathy Duva of Main Events, who has plumbed this territory before with Holyfield, the biggest heavyweight star ever to rise up from the cruisers, and Adamek. If your primary consideration is how many dollars (or Euros) you rake in, Adamek, who once held the WBC light heavyweight title, probably made as much or more for being taken out in 12 rounds by WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko on Sept. 10, 2011, as he did for all seven of his cruiserweight bouts.

Then again, money isn’t all that matters to a fighter who takes such obvious pride in himself, his profession and his roots as does Cunningham.

“When I won my first title overseas and came home, there was no reception at the airport,” Cunningham recalled. “After I won the title for a second time and came home, it was more of the same. And when stopped Huck in a great fight and came home, same thing.

“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt me. But, in a way, it made me stronger. I made up my mind that I had to do what I had to do, whether anyone in Philly recognized me or not.”

Naazim Richardson, best known for his work with Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley, called it an “outrage” that Cunningham is less familiar to the average Philadelphia sports fan than the Eagles’ long snapper or a late-season minor league callup with the Phillies.

“As far as I could tell, it never bothered him,” said Richardson, who has been with Cunningham for his last five fights. “It bothered me. We’d be on the street together and someone would come up to me and say, `Hey, Naazim, what do you have coming up next?’ I’d say, `Excuse me, but this is the two-time cruiserweight champion of the world, Steve Cunningham, standing next to me.’ And the guy would go, like, `Oh.’

“It’s just incredible to me that Steve isn’t more recognized in his hometown. This is a champion who works as hard, if not harder, than other champions I’ve been with.”

Cunningham expects to weigh in “around 208 pounds” for the fight with Gavern, who, at 6-2, is an inch shorter than the Navy veteran but has ranged from 233 to 249 on the scales during his pro career. The road to heavyweight contention figures to be progressively steeper and more hazardous thereafter, but Cunningham dares to believe a high-paying date with Vitali or Wladimir Klitchko is in his future, or at least a long-awaited rematch with Adamek.

“I think I’ll be able to hold my own,” Cunningham said. “I’ve been in with guys bigger than me before. Maybe not that much bigger, but you have to have the mindset that you can do anything you put your mind to. I’m a Christian. I read my Bible. Everybody knows about how David slew Goliath.”

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Bernard Fernandez

With Olympic Boxing on the Ropes, Three Elite U.S. Amateurs Shine in Colorado

Published

2 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Three USA boxers won gold medals at the recently concluded World Boxing U19 tournament in Pueblo, Colorado. The tournament, restricted to boxers aged 17 and 18, attracted contestants from 30 nations and a contingent from French Polynesia.

The U.S. team, represented by eight male and six female boxers, secured 11 medals in all, an impressive haul.

The three U.S. gold medalists appear to have very bright futures if they choose to remain in the sport. They are:

Light heavyweight (80 kg) ELIJAH LUGO (Marrietta, GA)

Lugo has purportedly scored 42 stoppages in his amateur career, the most since USA Boxing began keeping track. The record was previously held by his older brother Nathan Lugo who is currently 2-0 (2 KOs) at the professional level. The Lugo brothers are represented by David McWater (Split-T Management). One of boxing’s most influential facilitators, McWater’s clients include Teofino Lopez.

Middleweight (75 kg) JOSEPH AWININGYA JR (Joliet, IL)

The son of a Ghanaian immigrant who had a brief career as a professional boxer, competing as a cruiserweight, the precocious Awiningya, mature for his age, is a college student majoring in marketing who once aspired to become a nurse like his mother.

Flyweight (50 kg) LORENZO PATRICIO (Waianae, Hawai)

One of eight children. Patricio (our poster boy for this story) comes from a boxing family. Two of his sisters are involved in the sport.

—

In addition to the three gold medalists, the U.S. men’s team garnered two silver and three bronze. The U.S. women managed only three bronze, somewhat of a disappointment. Lightweight Shamiracle Hardaway (Lagrange, GA), considered one of the favorites, fell to England’s Ella Lonsdale in the semifinals. Ms. Lonsdale has a wonderful surname for a British boxer.

—

The best showing was by fast-rising India which had 17 medal winners including three golds. Although boxer Mery Kom (aka Mary Kom) is one of the most popular sports personalities in India, the South Asian nation, the world’s most populous country, has never had a large presence in boxing, amateur or pro. Ten of the 17 Indian medalists, including two of three gold medal winners, were female.

—

Tournament organizers noted that the Pueblo event was the first major tournament in the next Olympic cycle. Left unsaid was that boxing as an Olympic sport is on the ropes (pardon the pun). As it now stands, boxing, one of the original Olympic sports, is not on the docket for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

The International Olympic Committee de-frocked the International Boxing Association, the governing body of amateur boxing, in 2023. The decision was upheld in April by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, an agency headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland.

A new body, World Boxing, emerged from the fallout. The Pueblo tournament bore the imprint of the new organization.

The chairman of World Boxing’s “Olympic Commission” is Gennadiy Golovkin who is also the president of Kazakhstan’s National Olympic Committee. A former Olympic silver medalist whose primary residence is in the Los Angeles area, “GGG” is reportedly fluent in four languages. He is tasked with repairing the rent between boxing and the International Olympic Committee so that boxing can continue to be an Olympic sport. A decision is expected next year.

If successful, it is possible that things may revert to the days when professional boxers were ineligible to compete for Olympic medals.

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Floyd Schofield Wins a Banger and Gabriela Fundora Wins by KO

Published

3 days ago

November 3, 2024

David A. Avila

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Floyd Schofield Wins a Banger and Gabriela Fundora Wins by KO

LAS VEGAS-Shades of Henry Armstrong and Baby Arizmendi. If you don’t know those names, look them up.

Floyd Schofield battled his way past Mexico’s super tough Rene Tellez Giron who walked through every blow the Texan could fire but lost by decision on Saturday.

It was a severe test and perfect matchmaking for Schofield who yearns for the big bouts against the lightweight giants roaming the world.

Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) remains undefeated and won the war over thick-necked Mexican Tellez Giron (20-4, 13 KOs) who has never been knocked out and proved to be immune to big punches.

In the opening rounds, the Texas fighter came out firing rapid combinations from the southpaw and orthodox stances. Meanwhile the shorter Tellez Giron studied and fired back an occasional counter for two rounds.

Tellez Giron had seen enough and took his stand in the third stanza. Both unleashed blazing bombs with Schofield turning his back to the Mexican. At that moment referee Tom Taylor could have waved the fight over.

You never turn your back.

The fight resumed and Schofield was damaged. He tried to open up with even more deadly fire but was rebuked by the strong chin of Tellez Giron who fired back in the mad frenzy.

For the remainder of the fight Schofield tried every trick in his arsenal to inflict damage on the thick-necked Mexican. He could not be wobbled. In the 11^th round both opened up with serious swing-from-the-heels combinations and suddenly Schofield was looking up. He beat the count easily and the two remained slugging it out.

“He hit me with a good shot,” Schofield said of the knockdown. “I just had to get up. I’m not going to quit.”

In the final round Schofield moved around looking for the proper moment to engage. The Mexican looked like a cat ready to pounce and the two fired furious blows. Neither was hit with the big bombs in the last seconds.

There was Tellez Giron standing defiantly like Baby Arizmendi must have stood in those five ferocious meetings against the incomparable Henry Armstrong. Three of their wars took place in Los Angeles, two at the Olympic Auditorium in the late 1930s as the U.S. was emerging from the Great Depression.

In this fight, Schofield took the win by unanimous decision by scores 118-109 twice and 116-111. It was well-deserved.

“I tried to bang it out,” said Schofield. “Today I learned you can’t always get the knockout.”

Fundora

IBF flyweight titlist Gabriela Fundora needed seven rounds to figure out the darting style of Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz before firing a laser left cross down the middle to end the battle and become the undisputed flyweight world champion.

Fundora now holds all four titles including the WBO, WBA and WBC titles that Alaniz brought in the ring.

Fundora knocked down Alaniz midway through the seventh round. She complained it was due to a tangle of the legs. Several seconds later Fundora blasted the Argentine to the floor again with a single left blast. This time there was no doubt. Her corner wisely waved a white towel to stop the fight at 1:40 of the seventh round.

No one argued the stoppage.

Other Bouts

Bektemir Melikuziev (15-1, 10 KOs) didn’t make weight in a title bout but managed to out-fight David Stevens (14-2, 10 KOs) in a super middleweight fight held at 12 rounds.

Melikuziev used his movement and southpaw stance to keep Pennsylvania’s Stevens from being able to connect with combinations. But Stevens did show he could handle “The Bully’s” punching power over the 12-round fight.

After 12 rounds one judge favored Stevens 116-112, while two others saw Melikuziev the winner by split decision 118-110 and 117-111.

Super middleweight WBA titlist Darius Fulghum (13-0, 11 KOs) pummeled his way to a technical knockout win over southpaw veteran Chris Pearson (17-5-1, 12 KOs) who attempted the rope-a-dope strategy to no avail.

Fulghum floored Pearson in the first round with a four-punch combination and after that just belted Pearson who covered up and fired an occasional blow. Referee Mike Perez stopped the fight at 1:02 of the third round when Pearson did not fire back after a blazing combination.

Young welterweight prospect Joel Iriarte (5-0, 5 KOs) blasted away at the three-inch shorter Xavier Madrid (5-6, 2 KOs) who hung tough for as long as possible. At 2:50 of the first round a one-two delivered Madrid to the floor and referee Thomas Taylor called off the beating.

Iriarte, from Bakersfield, Calif., could not miss with left uppercuts and short rights as New Mexico’s Madrid absorbed every blow but would not quit. It was just too much firepower from Iriarte that forced the stoppage.

Photos credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy

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Results and Recaps from Turning Stone where O’Shaquie Foster Nipped Robson Conceicao

Published

3 days ago

November 2, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Results-and-Recaps-from-Turning-Stone-where-O'Shaquie-Foster-Nipped-Robson-Conceicao

Top Rank was at the Turning Stone casino-resort in Verona, New York, tonight with an 8-bout card topped by a rematch between Robson Conceicao and O’Shaquie Foster with the victor retaining or recapturing his IBF world junior lightweight title. When the smoke cleared, the operative word was “recapturing” as Foster became a two-time title-holder, avenging his controversial setback to the Brazilian in Newark on July 6.

This was a somewhat better fight than their initial encounter and once again the verdict was split. Foster prevailed by 115-113 on two of the cards with the dissenting judge favoring Conceicao by the same margin. Conceicao seemingly had the edge after nine frames, but Foster, a 4/1 favorite, landed the harder shots in the championship rounds.

It was the thirteenth victory in the last 14 starts for Foster who fights out of Houston. A two-time Olympian and 2016 gold medalist, the 36-year-old Conceicao is 19-3-1 overall and 1-3-1 in world title fights.

Semi-wind-up

SoCal lightweight Raymond Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs) made a big jump in public esteem and moved one step closer to a world title fight with a second-round blast-out of Jose Antonio Perez who was on the canvas twice but on his feet when the fight was stopped at the 1:24 mark of round two. Muratalla, a product of Robert Garcia’s boxing academy, is ranked #2 by the WBC and WBO. A Tijuana native, Perez (25-6) earned this assignment with an upset of former Olympian and former 130-pound world titlist Jojo Diaz,

Other Bouts

Syracuse junior welterweight Bryce Mills, a high-pressure fighter with a strong local following, stopped scrawny Mike O’Han Jr whose trainer Mark DeLuca pulled him out after five one-sided rounds. Mills improved to 17-1 (6 KOs). It was another rough day at the office for Massachusetts house painting contractor O’’Han (19-4) who had the misfortune of meeting Abdullah Mason in his previous bout.

In a junior lightweight fight that didn’t heat up until late in the final round, Albany’s Abraham Nova (23-3-1) and Tijuana native Humberto Galindo (14-3-3) fought to a 10-round draw. It was another close-but-no- cigar for the likeable Nova who at least stemmed a two-fight losing streak. The judges had it 97-93 (Galindo), 96-94 (Nova) and 95-95.

Twenty-one-year-old Long Island middleweight Jahi Tucker advanced to 13-1-1 (6 KOs) with an eighth-round stoppage of Stockton’s teak-tough but outclassed Quilisto Madera (14-6). Madera was on a short leash after five rounds, but almost took it to the final bell with the referee intervening with barely a minute remaining in the contest. Madera was on his feet when the match was halted. Earlier in the round, Tucker had a point deducted for hitting on the break.

Danbury, Connecticut heavyweight Ali Feliz, one of two fighting sons of journeyman heavyweight Fernely Feliz, improved to 4-0 (3) with a second-round stoppage of beefy Rashad Coulter (5-5). Feliz had Coulter pinned against the ropes and was flailing away when the bout was halted at the 1:34 mark. The 42-year-old Coulter, a competitor in all manner of combat sports, hadn’t previously been stopped when competing as a boxer.

Featherweight Yan Santana dominated and stopped Mexico’s Eduardo Baez who was rescued by referee Charlie Fitch at the 1:57 mark of round four. It was the 12^th knockout in 13 starts for Santana, a 24-year-old Dominican father of three A former world title challenger, Mexicali’s Baez declines to 23-7-2 but has lost six of his last eight.

In his most impressive showing to date, Damian Knyba, a six-foot-seven Pole, knocked out paunchy Richard Lartey at the 2:10 mark of round three. A right-left combination knocked Lartey into dreamland, but it was the right did the damage and this was of the nature of a one-punch knockout. Referee Ricky Gonzalez waived the fight off without starting a count.

Knyba, 28, improved to 14-0 (8 KOs). A native of Ghana coming off his career-best win, a fourth-round stoppage of Polish veteran Andrzej Wawrzyk, Lartey declined to 16-7 with his sixth loss inside the distance.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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