Cunningham Controversially Loses IBF Crown To Hernandez In Germany

IBF cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham lost his title last night on points at Jahnsportforum in Neubrandenburg, Germany when challenger Yoan Pablo Hernandez was declared unable to continue following a series of head clashes.

The first round saw southpaw Hernandez come out aggressively and take the fight to Cunningham, who seemed to be getting a handle on things by the final minute of the frame until a counter left hook to the ear caught the champion by surprise.

Cunningham went down hard, clearly hurt and had difficulty beating the count. Wobbling on very shaky legs, Cunningham was fortunate that the bout was not stopped at that point yet somehow managed to survive the final seconds of the first.

Hernandez tried to build upon his success in the second but Cunningham was no longer in trouble and was starting to establish the jab. By the third, Cunningham was controlling the pace, particularly after a head clash caused a cut on the side of Hernandez’s head.

Cunningham began to work in the right hand in the fourth and while Hernandez was now in defensive mode, he still was scoring at times with counters and sequences that stopped Cunningham’s progress.

A committed body assault from Cunningham put him firmly in command by the fifth as Hernandez was looking like a different fighter than the one who was firing away in the first frame.

It was more of the same in the sixth, especially after another head clash opened a vertical cut in Hernandez’s right eyebrow, prompting the challenger’s corner to declare their man couldn’t answer the bell for the seventh.

When the score cards up to that point were read, Hernandez won two of them, 59-54 and 58-55 while Cunningham was awarded the third, 57-56.

Obviously upset, Cunningham walked around the ring making a thumbs down gesture while Hernandez had his hand raised as the new IBF titlist.

Hernandez improves to 25-1 (13), while Cunningham now stands at 24-3 (12). Given the controversial nature of the bout’s ending, a rematch could be mandated.

The undercard saw undefeated British based Pole Grzegorz Proksa, 26-0 (19), stun former IBF titlist Sebastian Sylvester, 34-5-1 (16), in a contest for the vacant European middleweight belt.

From the start it was clear that this would be a difficult night for the 31 year old two-time ex-European king Sylvester as European Union titlist Proksa displayed a tricky southpaw style that the German could not solve.

Proksa won the first with a higher activity rate, a decent jab and fast lead left hands that Sylvester couldn’t slip.

The Pole stepped up the pressure in the second and was belting Sylvester around the ring at will. Soon the German suffered a large vertical cut above the right eye and began to open up his offense but largely still could not hit Proksa with anything of substance.

In the third, Proksa used his big speed advantage to whittle Sylvester down shot by shot, until shaking the more experienced man with a left uppercut in the closing seconds of the frame.

Due to the severity of Sylvester’s cut, his corner declined to continue for the fourth.

There was a rematch on the bill between Karo Murat, 25-1 (14), and southpaw Gabriel Campillo, 21-4 (8), for the vacant IBF Intercontinental light heavyweight strap.

Murat won a split decision after judges favored his more accurate, harder punching efforts over the busier style of Campillo.

The bout was also an IBF title eliminator and Murat is now in line to face big-hitting IBF champ Tarvoris Cloud.