IBF Boxing Champ Steve Cunningham Interested In Outcome Of Adamek vs. Gomez

IBF Cruiserweight World Champion Steve USS Cunningham will be an interested party this Friday night as he watches his mandatory title challenger, Tomasz Adamek, square off in the main event of ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights against Gary “The Pitbull” Gomez from the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago.

Speaking from his pizza joint, “USS Cunningham Pizza”, in West Philadelphia, PA, Cunningham spoke candidly about Adamek.

“I was ringside in Chicago for his second fight with Paul Briggs and I know he can really fight,” said Cunningham. “He was the world champ at 175 and he really proved himself to me that night. He’s my mandatory and I want to fight him as soon as possible.”

In regards to Adamek’s most recent win over O’Neil Bell, which earned the Pole the #1 mandatory position, Cunningham st ated, “Adamek did what he wanted and took care of business, but it seemed to me like Bell just wasn’t in the fight, mentally.”

The Adamek vs.Gomez fight will be Adamek’s third battle in Chicago. Said Cunningham about possibly fighting in Chicago, home to over 1,000,000 Polish Americans, “That’s fine with me. I know he has a lot of Polish fans there, but there are a lot of fight fans in Chicago that would be a looking for a great championship bout. I think it’s a perfect place for the fight to take place. I think it would really help build a strong fan base for the cruiserweight division in America .

“The Polish fans were terrific to me when I fought in Poland so I have no problem fighting in front of them again. The ring is the same anywhere we fight.”

With Adamek fighting on Friday night in Chicago, Cunningham half joked, “Tell him to stick around and we can=2 0do this Saturday night.”

About his immediate plans, Cunningham said, “Just staying busy with the pizza joint. A lot of the guys are coming by on Friday night to watch Adamek’s fight so sales should be pretty good. The more the merrier, we can make plenty of pizzas, no reservations necessary, bring a friend,” laughed the champ.

Advance tickets to “The Return Of The Polish Warrior”, presented by Kathy Duva’s Main Events and Dominic Pesoli’s 8 Count Productions, can be obtained through Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.com or 312-559-1212) or by calling 312-226-5800.

The Aragon Ballroom is located at 1106 W. Lawrence Ave, adjacent to the corner of Broadway20and Lawrence. Doors for this event will open at 6:30pm with the first bell at 7:15pm.