On Friday, April 4, 2014, Main Events and NBC Sports Networks presented another edition of their fan-favorite series Fight Night, from the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA.
The main event was a 10-round bout for the USBA Heavyweight Title between Steve “USS” Cunningham and USBA champion Amir “Hardcore” Mansour.
In Round 1, Mansour came out very anxious as he stalked Cunningham around the ring. At times, the hard-punching Mansour was a bit over excited and even reckless as he looked to land one big game-changing punch.
Mansour’s speed was impressive early on, but he exerted a lot of energy simply bobbing and weaving.
As a 41-year-old Heavyweight, excessive bouncing is probably not the best idea and as the fight wore on Mansour showed less and less of that style.
In the second round, Mansour kept up the pressure and was able to land a sharp left hand, which opened a cut on Cunningham’s forehead.
Round 4 saw Cunningham have some success by timing Mansour as he jumped in with wild hooks. Cunningham landed a couple of good straight right hands, which began some swelling under the champion’s eyes.
In Round 5, just when it looked like Cunningham had found the distance to keep Mansour at bay, “Harcore” landed a heavy right hook which badly hurt and dropped “USS.”
Cunningham was able to survive the round after being dropped a second time, but things weren’t looking good going into the sixth.
Impressively, Cunningham was able to stick-and-move and avoid any major punishment from Mansour in Round 6 and for the next few rounds, Cunningham took control of the distance and pace.
Mansour’s swelling got progressively worse with each passing round.
Cunningham showed the ability to weather the storm after being badly hurt and still follow his trainer Naazim Richardson’s game plan of boxing intelligently.
In the 10th and final round, Mansour came out determined to land some heavy leather and hold on to his title. But instead, he was knocked down by Cunningham after being caught off balance.
Mansour turned his back and hung his head low as referee Steve Smoger counted, seemingly realizing that the fight was all but lost with the knockdown.
Mansour knocked down in the last round and visibly frustrated #Boxing Great fight pic.twitter.com/bZjqKOw3Td
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) April 5, 2014
Knowing that this was an important crossroads fight, each man fought until the final bell and gave every ounce of effort in search of victory.
At the end of the night, Cunningham was awarded a unanimous decision, but Mansour certainly did enough to win the fans over and warrant another television bout.
97-90, 95-92 twice all for winner by UD Steve Cunningham #Boxing pic.twitter.com/NRReSv5Lep
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) April 5, 2014
In the co-featured bout of the evening, hard-hitting Curtis “Showtime” Stevens took on the widely unknown Tureano Johnson in a 10-round middleweight match-up.
Johnson came out on fire like a bat out of hell, taking the fight right to Stevens by pushing “Showtime” against the ropes.
Johnson had talked the talk in the build up to the fight, but it was a surprise to many to see him actually employ a bullying style of offense against the hard-hitting Stevens.
For the majority of the first three rounds, Johnson had his way with Stevens, smothering him against the ropes and taking anything that Stevens tried to throw at him.
Stevens had some better luck in Round 4 as he began to listen to his uncle and trainer Andre Rozier and turned off the ropes, getting himself into position to hit Johnson with some massive hooks.
Johnson looked a bit tired as he got banged with numerous big punches in Round 4, but Stevens wasn’t able to put him down on the canvas.
The middle rounds saw Stevens beginning to slow down and Johnson continuing his gameplan of bullying the bigger puncher.
As the fight headed into the 10th and final round, Johnson seemed to be in control, but his corner emphatically yelled at him that if he wanted to win the fight that he needed a knockout.
Perhaps thinking he needed a knockout to win the fight is what led Johnson to slug too much in the final round as the always dangerous puncher Curtis Stevens was able to land a big left hook, which shook Johnson to the core, backing him up against the ropes.
Stevens landed a number of punches with no response from Johnson, which prompted the referee to stop the fight.
The stop was protested by Johnson as it seemed that the referee jumped in a bit too soon.
A rematch between these two tough middleweights would be a welcomed treat, but it seems as though Stevens has his eyes set on a bigger prize in Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin.
Only time will tell in Johnson will get his shot at revenge.
Tureano Johnson to Curtis Stevens – "You better not run from the rematch, because if you do, the fans will know you're a fraud." #boxing
— Ismael AbduSalaam (@Ismael_BBM_NYK) April 5, 2014
