Friday, August 14, 2015, 46-year-old Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver (31-6, 22 KOs) continues his march toward a Heavyweight title shot when he takes on Steve “USS” Cunningham (28-7, 13 KOs) in a 12-round fight on another edition of PBC on Spike.
Cunningham looks to bounce back after experiencing numerous ups-and-downs in the last few years, both in and out of the ring. His personal story and the trials and tribulations his daughter, Kennedy Cunningham, has experienced have been well documented.
After spending her life fighting to survive hypoplastic left heart syndrome, at 9 years old, Kennedy underwent successful heart transplant surgery. It was around this time that Cunningham earned a big victory over hard-hitting contender, Amir Mansour–who at that point was undefeated.
Cunningham most recently dropped a close, but unanimous decision to undefeated contender, Vyacheslav Glazkov. Some people believe Cunningham deserved to win that fight, and although he dropped the official decision, it didn’t hurt his stock all that much.
Tarver on the other hand is attempting to notch his first notable victory since a 2011 stoppage win over Danny Green–which was in the Cruiserweight division. Since then, Tarver has only fought three times (due in large part to a suspension), but still feels he can be a force in the Heavyweight division.
During a recent media conference call, Tarver made some strong comments regarding the layoff and his own personal struggle in comparison to Cunningham’s.
“I hear his story and it’s heartfelt, but the last three years of my life can’t nobody even comprehend. That’s what champions are made of,” said Tarver.
It seems clear that Cunningham wants to put the struggle of his daughter behind him and focus on the task at hand, but Tarver’s comments were something Cunningham could not ignore and did not take very lightly.
“He’s trying to compare life woes. My daughter’s struggle and the struggle he said he went through in the past three years. Look dude, you can keep all the woes. You can take my daughter’s woes. You can take your woes. I don’t want them. Nobody wants those woes. We can’t compare that. I’m not into comparing life woes. Don’t try to compare nothing that you’ve been through that will not stand up to a damn thing Steve Cunningham has been through in his whole career,” said an agitated Cunningham.
Personal woes aside, both men need a victory to remain players in the busy Heavyweight division, but at nearly 47 years of age, Tarver certainly can’t afford any sort of setback if he hopes to contend with the bigger names–like Deontay Wilder and Wladimir Klitschko.
“I want to face Wilder and Klitschko. I ain’t got nothing else to prove man. I’m going to prove it August 14. They know who I am. I’ve got five championships to my name. I don’t have to prove nothing. They know who I am and they know when I’m ready to fight, I’m going to tough out for anybody,” said Tarver.
Without a convincing victory over Cunningham, Tarver will likely have to put his Heavyweight championship aspirations to rest and take a seat next to his commentator cohorts on Spike TV.
