Video: Cunningham – Mansour Press Conference

03/18/201403/17/2014 Main Events

Philadelphia, PA: This afternoon at the Joe Hand Boxing Gym in Philadelphia, PA members of the media gathered for the kick-off press conference for the Friday, April 4th fight at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA between Steve “USS” Cunningham (26-6-0, 12 KOs) of Philadelphia, PA and Amir “Hardcore” Mansour (20-0-0, 15 KOs) of Wilmington, DE. The fight will be for the USBA Heavyweight Title and will be broadcast live on NBCSN Fight Night at 10:00 PM ET/ 7:00 PM PT.

Photo Courtesy of Darryl Cobb Jr.

Hall of Fame Matchmaker, J Russell Peltz has a long history of putting on great fights in Philadelphia. He said, “In this fight we have the bull and the matador. Here Mansour comes forward like a bull and Steve Cunningham is the matador. Both guys are from the neighborhood. Fights like this are what make Philly the great fight town it has been. Both fighters took a long road to get here. I am really pumped for this fight.”

continue

Steve Cunningham interview

09/14/201609/17/2013 Boxing Roundup

stevecunningham_heavyweight Following service in the US Navy, where the moniker, ‘USS’ comes from, and a successful amateur career, in which he won the 178lb National Golden Gloves, Steve Cunningham embarked on a professional career in 2000. Cunningham headed into the Krzysztof Wlodarczyk IBF Cruiserweight title bout on a 19 fight win streak. Wkodarczyk recieved a disputed split decision. In the rematch, Cunningham settled the score, winning the IBF Cruiserweight title.

Later that year Cunningham stopped Marco Huck in Germany. Currently, Cunningham competes in the Heavyweight division. Although Cunningham lost his last outing to British Heavyweight hope Tyson Fury, a bout in which Cunningham dropped the much larger Fury in the second round, Peter Fury was impressed enough to invite Cunningham into the Fury camp, to spar Tyson in preparation for David Haye.

This week Boxingroundup caught up with Steve Cunningham, to find out how camp has gone.

continue

Steve Cunningham backs Tyson Fury to come out victorious against David Haye

09/05/2013 Hennessy Sports

jpeg jpeg Former IBF cruiserweight king Steve “USS” Cunningham backs Tyson Fury to come out victorious in his domestic heavyweight super fight with David Haye.

Cunningham, who lost to Tyson when they met in the ring in April, is across in Belgium helping the 25-year-old prepare for his crunch clash against the former undisputed cruiserweight world champion and former WBA world heavyweight champion, Haye, on September 28th at the Phones 4 U Arena Manchester, live on Sky Sports Box Office.

“Because I fought the guy and I see his training camp, I can go a little bit further than say; ‘May the best man win’, I believe Tyson’s going to win,” Cunningham said.

“I’m impressed seeing this guy, he’s so big and the work that he’s putting in – you can see that he’s really hungry and he wants this.”

continue

Tyson Fury to use Steve Cunningham as sparring partner to get ready for David Haye

08/12/201308/11/2013 Michael Collins

fury11 fury11 In somewhat of an odd move, heavyweight Tyson Fury (21-0, 15 KO’s) will be using 37-year-old Steve Cunningham as one of his sparring partners to help him get ready for his September 28th fight against David Haye (26-2, 24 KO’s) at the Manchester Arena.

Fury defeated Cunningham last April in New York in a 7th round stoppage. Cunningham wasn’t too happy about the loss, because he felt that Fury had partially held him in place with a left hand while landing the knockout punch. There was no rematch to clear up the controversy, and now Fury has moved on to the Haye fight.

continue

Fury/Cunningham: Keep it between the Ropes

04/22/201304/21/2013 Dave Cacciatore

fury14 fury14 Before the fight with Steve Cunningham, Tyson Fury showed all of the tact and rhetorical artistry usually found in the boys locker room of a local high school when he told the world of his greatness. During the fight he pounded his chest in the ring like a baboon and shoved Cunningham after the round to give us further evidence of his greatness. And after the fight, Fury took the microphone hostage and treated us to a ballad by Ricky Van Shelton (it being well known the popularity of country music in New York City) so that we would have no doubt that we were witnessing greatness.

The unfortunate thing is that Fury is not great. The reflection Fury sees of himself is not the same one that the boxing public sees. While his accomplishments have been good they have not been great, and while his style has been crudely effective it has obvious flaws. There is as much wrong with the 6’9 former amateur champion as there is right. This heavyweight Narcissus is blind to the fact that he has not proven anything great in the ring.

continue

Tyson Fury Wins Over Cunningham But Not the Fans

04/21/2013 Paul Strauss

Tyson Fury will get annihlated by either of the Klitschko brothers. He demonstrated very little in the way of boxing skills against Cunningham. Instead, he used his tremendous 6′ 9″ size advantage to mug his much smaller foe. On a 0-10 talent scale, boxing fans would be hard pressed to give him a score that would crack mid point. His bellowing, and worse yet his post-fight singing, completely turned off fans at Madison Square Garden Theater. His actions failed to generate any great desire in fans to rush out and buy a ticket to see him fight Vitali or Wladimir. That’s because fans know any such matchup will result in a reverberating quake picked up on the Richter Scale that will result when his big body crashes to the canvas.

Saturday night fans couldn’t help but feel sorry for Steve Cunningham. He wasn’t on the losing end of the seventh round stoppage, so much as he was a victim of a back alley New York City mugging. Tyson did so much pushing, shoving, elbowing and leaning on his smaller foe that Referee Eddie Cotton couldn’t keep track of all of the offenses. He needed a “clicker” to keep count of all of the fouls.

continue

Result: Tyson Fury KOs Steve Cunningham

04/21/201304/20/2013 Michael Collins

In a revealing fight, undefeated heavyweight contender Tyson Fury (21-0, 15 KO’s) had to really struggle tonight in stopping former IBF cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham (25-6, 12 KO’s) in the 7th round in a fight televised by NBC from Madison Square Garden, New York. Fury is awfully lucky that he was fighting a guy 44 lbs. lighter than him because Fury got dropped in the 2nd round by a looping right hand from Cunningham.

continue

Steve Cunningham: “We have a solid gameplan for Tyson Fury on April 20th”

04/04/2013 Gary Carnes

Media Day Workout Report – The Theater at Madison Square Garden will once again host Major Boxing action when Philadelphia’s Heavyweight pride Mr. Steve “USS” Cunningham enters the ring on April 20th, under the big lights for a 12 round face-off with the English giant, 24 year old Tyson Fury.

On Wednesday, April 3rd, Cunningham held a media workout at the Rock Ministries Gym in “The City of Brotherly Love” and had more than a few things to say about where he’s been, where he’s at and what’s in store for Fury.

“I came up and came through Europe. I’m used to not hearing the USS chants so that doesn’t bother me. We have a solid game plan for April 20th and if Fury is looking to have “fun” in the ring, I’m all set to have my “fun” too. I won’t even call this [Boxing] a sport, this is a lifestyle where people want to knock my head off so I’m ready to get in there and do the same. I have to be ready to do that and I have to win. If Fury uses his extended reach or starts doing his other antics we have a game plan for that too.”

continue

Tyson Fury-Steve Cunningham: No Easy Assignment For Tyson’s U.S Debut

02/21/201302/21/2013 ESB

fury67 fury67 By James Slater: Tyson Fury already enjoys at least something approaching a decent profile in America today, and now the 20-0(14) giant is bursting with anticipation over his American debut. U.S fight fans who have already formed an opinion of the 24-year-old (most of them through seeing his recent fights, against American imports Vinny Maddalone and Kevin Johnson, on Wealth T.V) will get to see Fury in the flesh on April 20th – at the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York, no less.

Fury deserves credit for the quality foe he and his team have accepted for his U.S debut, too. Former IBF cruiserweight champ Steve “U.S.S” Cunningham may be 36-years-old and he may have picked up just a single heavyweight win since moving up from 200-pounds; yet most fans who saw the Philadelphian’s recent, Dec. 2012 clash with another former cruiser champ, in Tomasz Adamek, feel Cunningham deserved the points victory. In a rematch of their 2008 thriller, Cunningham lost a debatable 12-round split decision. Cunningham, 25-5(12) was disgusted with the result.

continue

Tyson Fury vs Steve Cunningham on April 20 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden

09/15/201602/20/2013 ESB

fury544 fury544 Explosive 6’9″ heavyweight contender and former unbeaten, Irish, Commonwealth and British Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury, 20-0, 14 KO’s, will make his New York debut on Saturday afternoon, April 20th when he takes on former cruiserweight World Champion Steve USS Cunningham, 25-5, 12 KO’s, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

This fight is an official IBF Heavyweight Voluntary Eliminator fight for the #2 position between #9, Tyson Fury and #12, Steve Cunningham. The winner will become #2 and must meet #1 or the leading available contender to establish the mandatory challenger for Heavyweight King Wladimir Klitschko. The fight will be broadcast at 4PM ET on NBC as a special 2 hour afternoon presentation of NBC Sports Fight Night.

“Cunningham’s got all the tools; a former World Champion, good fighter, he’s got a lot of skill. I’m looking to put on a devastating performance; the best of my career to date.” said Fury. “I’m absolutely ecstatic to be fighting at Madison Square Garden; it goes back in history and I can’t wait to put my name with a long list of Champions who have fought there – I’m a historian of boxing myself so this is definitely the pinnacle of my career so far.”

continue