By James McKnight @mckjimbo
On Saturday 22nd December, at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, USA, Steve Cunningham and Tomasz Adamek will meet in a long awaited rematch.
To prove how big a rematch this is, on the night of the fight, legendary boxing announcer Michael Buffer will introduce both boxers.
Cunningham, now 36, has a record of 25-4 (12 KO's), and is a former IBF cruiserweight champion. His opponent, Adamek, is also 36, with a record of 47-2 (29 KO's). He is a former two-division World champion having captured the WBC light-heayweight and IBF cruiserweight titles.
Going in to their original meeting back on the 11th December 2008, Cunningham was the IBF cruiserweight title holder. Adamek earned himself a shot at the title having won an IBF eliminator bout in the same year.
The bout as a whole was incredible. It was packed with action in every round. Adamek had downed Cunningham a total of three times in rounds 2, 4 and 8. Despite this, Cunningham was able to land many jabs, right hands and combinations. It was a thrilling tussle to say the last between the two best regarded cruiserweights at the time.
Two judges were in favour of Adamek with scores of 116-110 and 115-112 whilst the other scored it in favour of Cunningham with a score of 114-112. It was a split decision victory for Adamek.
Leading up to this rematch, Cunningham has lost two of his past three bouts. The two losses he suffered were for the IBF cruiserweight titles which he had won in February last year. Meanwhile, Adamek has won three of his last four bouts since he was stopped by Vitali Klitschko in September last year.
Adamek is the current IBF North American heavyweight champion and this is the title the two are fighting for. In all honesty though and i'm sure many of you will agree with me here, the two do not need a title for this one. This just seems personal.
Here's what the two boxers had to say on the long awaited rematch.
"I wanted this rematch for a long time, especially right after the first fight, but it didn't happen," said Cunningham. "My career went on, his career went on, and now our paths cross again. I'm excited. I'm looking at this like it's the first time we're fighting," he added.
"After 2008 i'm sure Steve was hungry because I took his belt. He's waiting four years for rematch," said Adamek. "I will give him a chance to fight again with me. Should be interesting fight for my fans. Everybody knows me and sees how i'm a big warrior. I'm older by four years but i'm still a warrior."
Their first fight was immense, so let's hope the rematch is equally as good or even better!
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