Braithwaite upset with decision in title eliminator

SUNRISE, Florida, CMC – Guyana’s ex-world champion Wayne Braithwaite suffered a career setback Saturday night when American Steve Cunningham defeated him in their International Boxing Federation (IBF) cruiserweight title eliminator.

Cunningham won 119-109, 118-110, 117-111 on the judges’ cards for a unanimous decision in a contest between two former world champions at the BankAtlantic Centre that appeared closer than the official scoring.

“I fought a very hard fight,” Braithwaite said after the bout, one of the main fights on a card promoter Don King used to honour late pop star Michael Jackson.
“In fact, I thought I might have won. I can’t believe the judges didn’t give me any more credit,” added the New York-based Braithwaite.

Cunningham, 32, controlled the early action on the strength of his jab but Braithwaite stepped up his urgency and forced Cunningham to fight hard in rounds three and four.

Cunningham did well in round five although Braithwaite switched between the conventional and southpaw stance. The American hurt Brathwaite with a big right hand near the end of the fifth.

Braithwaite was rugged in rounds six and seven and tried to pressure Cunningham with power shots but his increased tempo sapped his energy and he entered round eight very tired.

Cunningham tightened his grip on the bout with solid shots in rounds eight and the ninth was close.

With the bout slipping away from him, Braithwaite pressed hard for power shots in the 10th round.

Knowing he may have been trailing on the scorecards, Braithwaite peppered Cunningham with some stinging shots in the 11th round and the pair battled toe-to-toe for much of the last round.

With the win, Cunningham improved to 22-2 (11 knockouts) and Braithwaite falls to 23-4 (19 knockouts)

The result makes Cunningham the mandatory challenger to IBF champion Tomasz Adamek, who took his title with a split 12-round decision in a fight-of-the-year candidate last December in New Jersey.

“Tonight I proved once again that I am still the best cruiserweight in the world,” Cunningham said.

“It’s just a matter of time. I felt like I did enough to win. I matched him for speed and boxing strategy and I feel like I got the best shots in.”

Braithwaite previously held the WBC title, which he lost to Frenchman Jean-Marc Mormeck in a WBC/World Boxing Association (WBA) unification bout in April 2005.

He credited Cunningham for his performance but declared the judges’ verdict unfair.
“Steve was a very skilled opponent and I was a little rusty but you can ask Cunningham himself. I know I gave him a good fight,” said Braithwaite, who was having his first bout since March last year.

In the main event of the night, IBF bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko took a hard fought unanimous decision over unified super flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan.