This Saturday night the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada hosts a United States Boxing Association Heavyweight title fight as American Steve Cunningham takes on Ukraine’s Vyacheslav Glazkov in a 12-round bout. The match serves as the co-feature supporting the World Light Heavyweight title fight between Sergey Kovalev and Jean Pascal, and will air in HBO in the United States, and the winner will earn a future IBF World Title bout.
The books have Cunningham an interesting +115 over Glazkov, who is returning at -155. The match has an over/under set at 9.5 rounds, as the over pays -280 and the under pays back at +200.
Glazkov is the undefeated (19-0-1) prospect here, and he is currently ranked in the top 10 at heavyweight. He has an extensive amateur career under his belt and this match with Cunningham is considered busy work for him as he seeks a world title fight in the near future.
Cunningham is 38 years old now, and he is a former IBF World Cruiserweight champion whose 28-6 record includes two losses each to Cruiserweight champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez and to Tomasz Adamek. He went seven rounds with Tyson Fury before being stopped and he went 2-0 in 2014 with his opponents being a combined (30-0). In terms of taking risks and fighting real competition, Cunningham’s resume is light years ahead of Glazkov, who owns a win over Adamek, but beside that his best opponent is the Philadelphia’s Malik Scott, whose propped up record of (35-0) looks good, but Glazkov could only manage a draw in that one.
Though 38, Cunningham is getting better as a boxer and fighting at heavyweight means he has some room to grow. Cunningham has been coming in at under 210 lbs for his fights, while Glazkov rings in about 220 lbs, but he will have a reach advantage and this weight difference is nowhere near as bad as he has faced.
One of the main reasons Cunningham has been more focused is a personal trial. His 9 year old daughter had a heart transplant, and is recovering in the Pittsburgh area while he trains with esteemed coach Naazim Richardson for this fight. With that type of motivation on the personal side, it is hard to root against the former navy man they call “USS” Cunningham.
