Photo by Lucas Noonan/Premier Boxing Champions
On Friday, August 14, 2015, Antonio Tarver (31-6-1, 22 KOs) and Steve Cunningham (28-7-1, 13 KOs) fought to an uneventful draw at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The 12-round fight headlined a PBC on Spike card in the U.S.
Tarver, 46, was very slow throughout the fight, while a usually busier Cunningham, 39, fought at nearly the same pace as Tarver.
As he boxed from his southpaw stance, Tarver landed left hands early, and even seemed to hurt Cunningham a bit.
After the fight, Tarver spoke about controlling pace and outboxing Cunningham.
“I knew they weren’t educated on my defense and ring generalship. I threw the harder punches and wasn’t tired. I controlled the tempo, kept my jab busy and feel like I outboxed him too,” said Tarver.
However, Tarver’s punches did not have the explosiveness they once had, and Cunningham’s lack of power and aggression lead to an uneventful fight.
Although he didn’t get the victory, Cunningham did not seem to torn about the decision.
“I’m the man I’ve always been before and after the fight, and this decision, you won’t find me kicking and screaming. I have nothing to be ashamed of and I’ll get together with my team and family and talk about what we do next,” said Cunningham.
One judge scored it 115-113 for Cunningham, another scored it 115-114 for Tarver, and a third one scored it a 114-114 draw.
The fight was supposed to be for Heavyweight relevancy, but it just revealed how irrelevant both fighters really are at Heavyweight.
