Steve "USS" Cunningham, the former IBF cruiserweight champion, will soon face once-beaten contender Matt Godfrey for chance to regain his old belt. Tomasz Adamek's campaign up at heavyweight has left the championship vacant, and 33-year-old Cunningham (whose most recent loss came at the hands of the teak-tough Pole) and 29-year-old Godfrey will clash for it on March 19th in Florida.
A good match-up, both men have a good chance of winning. The older man over Godfrey by four years and perhaps more in terms of having had a greater number of hard fights, Cunningham is probably the favourite to win. But in the man who goes by the nickname of "Too Smooth," the former champ who also has a controversial and subsequently avenged points loss to another Polish fighter, in Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, on his record, will be facing a proven operator..
Godfrey may not have mixed in as good a company as Cunningham has, true, but the man from Providence, Rhode Island has beaten some quality fighters. Good men like Sean George, Emanuel Nwodo and Edward Gutierrez all lost to Godfrey, with George being taken out inside just one round. Like Cunningham, Godfrey has never been stopped - his sole loss coming on points; to Czech Republic fighter and former WBC cruiserweight title challenger Rudolf Kraj.
Both men are sure of victory - with Cunningham hell-bent on reclaiming his crown and Godfrey anxious to become a world champion for the first time.
Neither guy is what you could really call a hugely concussive puncher, with the 22-2 Cunningham having stopped 11 men, and the 20-1 Godfrey having halted ten of his opponents. Because of this, it's safe to assume we can expect a fairly long fight in March, maybe even a distance fight. The action should be good, though, and it's worth bearing in mind how many good battles Cunningham has been involved in.
This is the acid test for Godfrey (who was knocked down in his wild slugfest win over Nwodo), and we will have to wait and see if he can rise to it. One area the younger man may have an advantage is in recent activity levels. Last fighting in September of last year, while Cunningham last boxed in July and had just the one fight in 2009 and just one in 2008, Godfrey could conceivably be the sharper man when the fight starts.
Cunningham's chin is well proven, despite his being given counts three times in the war with Adamek, while Godfrey has that trip to the canvas against Nwodo on his record, as well as his going down in the opening round of his last win, over Michael Simms. If a KO is scored, I think it will be Cunningham - the only man to have beaten the constantly improving Marco Huck - who scores it.
I go for Cunningham to prove too strong for Godfrey, and win via either a late stoppage or by a clear points margin.
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=22550&more=1
Home Page 
