Big Truck to face Cunningham

Mar 04, 2009 Sports

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.

Wayne Braithwaite

‘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.

Steven Ormain Cunningham

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 a 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. However, recent reports state that the bout has been confirmed for next month.