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Former cruiserweight king, Steve
'USS' Cunningham, is close to securing his
first opponent, Guyana's Wayne 'Big Truck'
Braithwaite, in his quest to regain the
IBF cruiserweight crown he lost, by a
close split decision, to Tomasz 'Goral'
Adamek last December.
'USS' Cunningham, who beat Krzysztof
'Diablo' Wlodarczyk to become the IBF
cruiserweight champion in Katowice, Poland
in May '07 and successfully defended it
seven months later against Marco 'Kapt'n'
Huck in Bielefeld, Germany, had been
hoping to secure a quick rematch with
Adamek of their December 11th "Fight of
the Year" nominated classic, but after the
announcement that Adamek was to face
Johnathon Banks on the 27th February, at
the Prudential Center in Newark, New
Jersey, started to look elsewhere.
When the news came through that an
opportunity to face former WBC
cruiserweight champion, Wayne 'Big Truck'
Braithwaite, was available, after BJ
Flores decided against facing Braithwaite
in an IBF cruiserweight title eliminator
bout, 'USS' Cunningham could barely hide
his joy as he said. "I am really looking
forward to this fight. This is a fight
that I expected to happen a few years ago.
Wayne is a tough, strong guy. He was a
great champ and I expect this to be a
great fight.
So far my promoter has said that no
networks are interested in this fight and
that is disappointing. Wayne is an
exciting fighter, former world champion,
and me coming off of my last fight with
Adamek and all the attention that fight
got, I know the American fans would want
to see this fight.
This fight is very important to me,
this will put me back in line as mandatory
challenger for Adamek, assuming he gets
past Banks, which I hope he does. I'm
going to be champ again and I want to take
my title back from Adamek."
'USS' Cunningham's proposed opponent,
Wayne "Big Truck" Braithwaite, became WBC
champion after stopping Vincenzo Cantatore
in the tenth round on the 11th October
2002 in Italy. After successfully
defending his title three times he faced
WBA champ Jean-Marc Mormeck in an
unification match in March 2005. After
twelve hard fought rounds Mormeck emerged
victorious. In 2007 Braithwaite traveled
to Cardiff, Wales to challenge Enzo
Maccarinelli for his WBO title. Again,
after twelve action packed rounds, 'Big
Truck' was on the losing side of a points
decision.
On paper this match-up has "classic"
and "thriller" stamped all over it. Two
magnificent former champions locked in
battle to regain their coveted number one
status. Add to that their contrast in
their styles, Braithwaite's a hard
punching southpaw with an impressive
knockout record whereas Cunningham's an
athletic fighter with fast hands and a
high punch rate. Those elements can only
lead to an exciting all-action contest, if
not an all out war, being on the cards. It
is quite likely that this fight could be
even more exciting than last December's,
"Fight of the Year" nominated,
Cunningham-Adamek battle!
It is expected that the date and
location of Steve 'USS' Cunningham vs.
Wayne 'Big Truck' Braithwaite will be
announced shortly.
www.usscunningham.com
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