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Hennessy Sports have announced that undefeated British heavyweight hope Tyson Fury will make his stateside debut against the former two time IBF Cruiserweight Champion and Philly native Steve “USS” Cunningham at the Madison Square Gardens Theatre on the 20th April in an event that will be co-promoted by Duva Entertainment.
In a contest that is officially billed as an IBF eliminator for the number 2 spot with the Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev the immediate target for the winner of this elimination contest.
24 year old Mancunian giant Fury, who is 20 fights unbeaten with 14 knockouts and has already held the English, Commonwealth, Irish, British Heavyweight titles and is the current WBO Inter-Continental Heavyweight champ, faces his sixth American opponent having defeated Nicolai Firtha and then Vinny Maddalone, the tough come forward brawler to clinch the aforementioned trinket.
Both of these wins for Fury were by stoppage. In his last contest in December, Fury then defeated former World title challenger Kevin “Kingpin” Johnson at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast in a WBC eliminator bout in front of the Channel 5 cameras.
Earlier in his career, Fury scored a points win over durable American journeyman Zack Page in Quebec and also Rich Power, which were both eight round fights.
The bout against the brash American heavyweight Johnson. who went 12 rounds with Vitali Klitschko, was a mature and extremely measured performance against the shorter, more experienced American.
Standing tall, Fury was working off his ever improving left jab and switching effectively between Johnson’s head and body to keep his opponent at long range and backing Johnson up against the ropes. Many fans in attendance were disappointed that Fury’s dominant performance was not completed with a knockout.
In Cunningham, nicknamed USS in reference to four years of naval service from 1994-1998, Fury faces yet another tough opponent in the shape of the 36 year former IBF Cruiserweight king, who has 25 wins out of 30 on his resume.
This CV includes wins over current WBC Cruiserweight king Krzysztof Wlodarczyk in 2007 avenging a previous points loss, and also knocking out current WBO boss Marco Huck before losing to Tomasz Adamek.
However, Cunningham has lost three out of his last five bouts, which include two points losses to Cuban southpaw Yoan Pablo Hernandez and a questionable points loss in a rematch to Adamek, which was also in December of this year.
Fury will have a five inch height advantage, standing 6ft 9in to Cunningham’s 6ft 4in and a three inch reach advantage of 85 inches to Cunningham’s 82 inches.
Fury has a greater knockout ratio of 70 percent in comparison to Cunningham’s 40 percent, although Fury’s knockouts have all been at heavyweight while Cunningham’s have been down at Cruiserweight.
Of the two fighters, Fury has the quicker hands and the ability to knockout opponents with body-shots, which makes him a genuine threat to any potential rival.
However, what may give Cunningham some confidence in this bout is that Fury has already been dropped in his career, which came against Neven Pajikic in Fury’s only defence the Commonwealth strap.
Come fight night, it is likely that Fury will look to dictate the action from the centre of the ring behind his long fast left jab and ripping left hooks to the body to keep the older and smaller Cunningham at long range, breaking him down before forcing either a late stoppage or taking a wide points decision.
This is a potentially perfect way to make a statement in the fight capital of the United States, although Cunningham may choose to unleash some unbrotherly love instead.
