By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Steve Cunningham hasn’t forgotten about his PED promise.

Cunningham said Wednesday before a press conference in Manhattan that he intends to file a civil lawsuit against Antonio Tarver sometime soon after he boxes Krzysztof Glowacki for Glowacki’s WBO cruiserweight championship Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn (NBC). Tarver tested positive for synthetic testosterone before he fought to a 12-round heavyweight draw with Cunningham on August 14 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

New Jersey’s State Athletic Control Board suspended Tarver for six months and fined him $50,000, but Cunningham is far from satisfied with Tarver’s punishment. The two-time cruiserweight champion thinks Tarver should be banned from boxing after failing a PED test for the second time in three years.

Regardless, Cunningham believes suing Tarver (31-6, 22 KOs, 2 NC) will bring much-needed attention to what Cunningham called “a rampant” PED problem in boxing.

“I’ve been bogged down with family issues – my mother’s health, training camp itself, because I basically had to move back to Philly,” said Cunningham, whose young daughter, Kennedy, underwent a heart transplant in December 2014. “But after this fight, we’re back on it. I’m not gonna let this guy slide. I said it out loud and I meant it. I said it even before the Tarver fight, even before I knew I was fighting Tarver, years ago. Like, ‘If that ever happens to me, I’ll pursue a civil suit.’ And I have to.

“Because let’s hypothetically say I can get a good judgment, I win, it’s not about making money or anything. I’ll literally donate that money to a charity. It’s about setting a precedent, a standard. … If a fighter feels he can get personally sued for using steroids, for cheating, that might deter him.”

The 47-year-old Tarver’s financial problems have been well-documented. The former undisputed light heavyweight champion reportedly owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes and child support.

Cunningham, however, feels as though he owes it to clean boxers to make an example out of his PED predicament.

“It’s really not about me coming up on some money from Tarver,” Cunningham said. “We all know he’s in a bind anyway, but it’s about setting a precedent and a bar in boxing. That’s all. I feel like I have to do it. I feel like I have to try to set a precedent. ‘Hey, this guy won a civil suit. Oh, hold up. You mean to tell me they’re taking money out of your pocket if you get caught now? Hold up, man, I don’t need that extra juice.’ ”

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Tarver’s appeal of his fine and suspension was denied by the SACB on February 11. By then, though, he had already served his six-month suspension because it was retroactive to the date he was tested prior to his fight against Cunningham, the result of which was changed to a no-contest.

The 1996 Olympian was allowed to fight Cunningham because the ‘A’ sample from his urinalysis wasn’t received by New Jersey’s boxing commission until September 20. The ‘B’ sample wasn’t delivered to the SACB’s office until October 15.

Cunningham considered Tarver’s punishment “light” because of Tarver’s PED history.

The California State Athletic Commission suspended him for one year and fined him $2,500 after he tested positive for an anabolic steroid following a June 2012 draw with cruiserweight Lateef Kayode in Carson, California. That scandal caused Tarver to lose his commentating gig with Showtime.

He continues to serve as an analyst for Spike, which broadcast his fight against Cunningham. Tarver also has publicly discussed various conspiracy theories since his second PED suspension was upheld.

“I feel he should’ve been fired from Spike,” Cunningham said. “And I feel he shouldn’t even be allowed to box anymore. It’s two times and he’s gonna do it again.”

The 39-year-old Cunningham (28-7, 13 KOs, 1 NC) has moved back down from heavyweight to cruiserweight since the Tarver controversy. Though he doesn’t intend to fight Tarver again, Cunningham remains committed to fighting to make boxing as clean of a sport as possible.

“We are already superhuman,” Cunningham said. “When you have a guy that’s juiced up on something, he’s extra strong and he can do extra damage. What happens when we get a fighter who really gets hurt in the ring or possibly passes away from a guy who pops on the test?

“Then everybody’s got egg on their face because nobody did anything to try to stop him even more. Because it’s rampant in boxing. I can’t mention any names, but fighters know who’s on stuff. The people know. You hear things, you see things. What happens when a guy gets killed in the ring from a guy juicing? Everybody should be held accountable – everybody.”

Cunningham’s fight against Poland’s Glowacki (25-0, 16 KOs) will be one of three televised by NBC on Saturday night, starting at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT.

The tripleheader will begin with a 10-rounder between highly regarded light heavyweight prospect Marcus Browne (17-0, 13 KOs), of Staten Island, N.Y., and Radivoje Kalajdzic (21-0, 14 KOs), of St. Petersburg, Florida. In the main event, heavily hyped welterweight prospect Errol Spence Jr. (19-0, 16 KOs), of DeSoto, Texas, is set to face former WBO junior welterweight champion Chris Algieri (21-2, 8 KOs), of Huntington, N.Y., in a 12-round bout.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.