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IBF cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham headlined a big show on Saturday, retaining his title over Enad Licina at RWE Rhein-Ruhr Sporthalle in Muelheim, Germany.
Despite ceding a big edge in experience to the champion, Licina came to fight and gave Cunningham a difficult time in the early going.
But Licina couldn’t keep up the pace as the contest began to settle into a more moderate rate favored by Cunningham, who began to build up a point edge by the midway point.
Cunningham cemented his hold on the bout in the later rounds, winning a 118-110, 117-111, 115-113 unanimous decision after the 12 rounds were completed.
The American veteran moves to 24-2 (12), while Serbia’s Licina drops to 19-3 (10), after his first world title appearance.
There was an Interim WBA cruiserweight title clash on the card, with Cuban challenger Yoan Pablo Hernandez, 24-1 (13), winning a battle of southpaws against regining title holder Steve Herelius, 21-2-1 (12).
Herelius was aggressive throughout but had trouble offsetting the skill advantage enjoyed by Hernandez. Herelius fought through a leg injury suffered in the fourth frame but was downed in the seventh before getting KO’d at 1:19 of the same round.
Former IBF middleweight king Arthur Abraham, 32-2 (26), was in action on the bill, outgunning Stjepan Bozic, 24-5 (15), until Bozic injured a hand and the fight was waved off at 1:01 of the second at super middleweight.
Ex-WBO super middle title challenger Eduard Gutknecht, 20-1 (8), outpointed Oleksandr Cherviak, 9-2 (1), in a competitive eight round at light heavy while former European super middle ruler Karo Murat, 23-1 (13), won all eight rounds against Christian Cruz, 12-12-1 (10), also at light heavyweight.
