In a do or die fight for two older heavyweights looking for one last opportunity at a world title bout, Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver and “USS” Steve Cummingham gave everything they had in a hard fought, competitive twelve round split decision draw. Scores were 115-113 for Cunningham, 115-113 for Tarver, and 114-114. This main event at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey was part of the Premier Boxing Champions and was broadcast on Spike TV.
Promoter Frank Warren revealed on Friday as part of the “Bunce’s Boxing Hour” show on Boxnation that Flanagan would be fulfilling his mandatory obligations immediately after capturing the vacant WBO 135lb strap against Jose Zepeda, who dislocated his shoulder in the 2nd round of their July fight and was thus unable to continue.
Former IBF 168lb champ Lucian Bute (32-2, 25 KOs) came out on top tonight in defeating Italy’s Andrea Di Luisa (17-3, 13 KOs) by a 4th round TKO after Di Luisa’s corner threw in the towel in the 4th round at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
Bute knocked the 33-year-old, Ink-covered Di Luisa down with a left to the head in the 4th. Di Luisa got to his feet at the count of 8. When asked if he was okay, Di Luisa appeared to shake his head. The referee let it continue anyway. Moments later, Di Luisa’ corner threw in the towel and the fight was halted at 1:53 of the round. Bute was slightly hurt by a left hand from Di Luisa before the knockdown. The shot had Bute backing up, but he wasn’t badly hurt but he clearly was stunned by the shot from the Italian fighter.
Northern Irish middleweight contender and IBF #3, Eamonn O’Kane (14-1-1, 5ko) is set to face far and away the biggest test of his career when he enters a considerable underdog against Bahamian former Olympian and IBF #4 Tureano Johnson (18-1, 13ko) on the under card of the highly anticipated Gennady Golovkin/David Lemieux HBO PPV bill on October 17th at Madison Square Garden, New York.
The winner of the bout will become mandatory challenger to the IBF title currently held by Lemieux, and following the official announcement earlier this week, O’Kane – who is in training at Abel Sanchez’s Summit facility in preparation for the contest, tweeted; “I’m pleased to announce I will be winning my mandatory position for the WBA & IBF titles Oct 17th Madison Square Garden #AttitudeIsEverything.”
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Little known Krzystof Glowacki pulled off a stunning upset in New Jersey last night, knocking out long reigning WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck in the 11th round of a thoroughly entertaining scrap, sending the large Polish contingent in attendance at the Prudential Center absolutely wild.
Glowacki was flat on his back in the 6th after a solid left hook, and after rising to his feet looked as if he might get waved off, but he showed a lion hearted grit and determination to take the fight back to the German based champion, ably weathering the crisis.
Faded 46 year old modern great and 4 division world titlist Roy Jones Jr continues in his quest to try and somehow maneuver himself into position to challenge for an elusive cruiserweight world title when he fights Eric Watkins (12-9-2, 5ko) as part of the Knockout Season 2 finale, live on NUVOtv in the States.
Jones has been on record lately insisting that he would like to capture the 5th divisional world honour and had been keen on a challenge to the now former WBO champion Marco Huck, who sensationally dropped his title this weekend in a stunning upset at the hands of little known Pole Krzsytof Glowacki.
Photo: STEPHANIE TRAPP – What a difference two years can make. On this date in 2013, two-time world champion Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) underwent surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right shoulder. Two years later, he’s feeling stronger than ever and enjoys a new appreciation for the speed, power and athleticism he’s been blessed with. Berto plans to showcase all of those attributes in his Saturday, September 12 showdown with pound-for-pound king Floyd “Money” Mayweather (48-0, 26 KOs) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas live on SHOWTIME PPV (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).
“It gave me a completely different perspective; I really thought my career might be over,” Berto said. “I told myself that when I get back in there, I was going to go all in.”
(Photo credit: Ed Diller/DiBella Entertainment) NEWARK, NJ (August 15, 2015) – Heavyweights Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver (31-6, 22 KOs) and Steve “U.S.S.” Cunningham (28-7, 13 KOs) fought to a split decision draw in the main event of tonight’s Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Spike at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Both Tarver and Cunningham fought at a consistent pace throughout the bout, exchanging punches evenly in the early rounds. Tarver caught Cunningham in the fourth round with a sneaky right cross that wobbled the younger fighter who quickly regained his composure and finished out the round. The back and forth action, which left Cunningham bruised and swollen around the eyes, lead to the draw with judges scores of 115-113 Cunningham, 115-114 Tarver and 114-114.
(Photo credit: Ed Diller/DiBella Entertainment) In heavyweight action between two aging smaller heavyweights, 39-year-old Steve “USS” Cunningham (28-7-1, 13 KOs) and 46-year-old former 175lb champion Antonio Tarver (31-6-1, 22 KOs) fought to a 12 round draw tonight at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The fight televised on Premier Boxing Champions on Spike TV in the United States.
It was a tossup fight that really could have gone either way. The judges scored it 115-113 for Cunningham, 115-114 for Tarver and 114-114 even. It was a winnable fight for either of these guys, but a draw was definitely fair. If the judges had given the fight to Tarver, they would have had to ignore the fact that he was doing almost nothing in every round of the fight.
WBA (reg) bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell makes the long trip back to Texas next month for his second fight with Japan’s Al Haymon advised Tomoki Kameda as part of the secretive American advisor’s Premier Boxing Champions brand.
McDonnell squeezed past the previously unbeaten Kameda in May after hitting the deck in the 3rd and rising to show exactly why he is one of the most underrated fighters in Britain at the moment, displaying a grit and steely determination that saw him hold on to his title by scores of 114-113 across the board.