Warsaw, Poland (November 26, 2006) — Steve “USS” Cunningham is demanding a rematch after his controversial split-decision loss to Krzysztof Wlodarczyk in Poland. Cunningham dropped a controversial split decision on Saturday night. “I’m highly pissed. How can they continue to do this stuff? There needs to be a world governing body so this stuff doesn’t continue to happen.” The “stuff” Cunningham is referring to are a bunch of mitigating circumstances that happened in the days leading up to the fight:
TRAVEL: “We were told that we were going to be in Poland for ten days to get fully acclimated to the surroundings.” Said Cunningham, “We arrived in Poland on Monday morning. Basically five days before the fight on Saturday.”
JUDGES: “The Polish judge was originally going to the judge the fight. He was taken out and put back in at the last minute despite not being an IBF accredited official”
GLOVES: “Everyone who has seen me fight knows I use GRANT gloves. They are my outfitters as well. Again at the last moment the pull the bait and switch and made me use Everlast gloves. I haven’t used those gloves in years.”
“Also, relating to the gloves, Kryzystolf threw his gloves in the crowd right after the final bell. Don’t the gloves need to inspected after the fight?”
URINE TEST: “I am not trying to insinuate anything but, neither of us were given a post-fight urine test”
“This is my livelihood. This is how I put food on my table. Despite all those factors, I won the fight. Before the fight, everyone told me that every time he threw a punch the crowd would be roaring. I really didn’t hear them at all during the fight, so that should tell you how effective he was during the fight”
“I demand an immediate rematch. This time let’s do in the States. He may have got the decision and maybe he has that belt but I know I am the champion.”