PRUDENTIAL CENTER, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - In a battle of former world champions, in the Premier Boxing Champions televised main event on Spike TV, Antonio "Magic Man" Tarver (31-6-1, 22 KOs) and Steve "U.S.S." Cunningham (28-7, 13 KOs) fought to a twelve round split draw in a heavyweight contest. The scores were 115-113 for Cunningham, 115-114 for Tarver and 114-114 a draw.
Cunningham dominated much of the first round with just his jab. Tarver landed a good left hand near the end, but Cunningham took it well. Cunningham continued a very high workrate, being busier and at times taking the fight to Tarver. The fourth was better for Tarver, who managed to let his hands go a bit more. In the fifth, they were trading shots and Tarver was getting the better of the exchanges with harder shots.
As the fight played out, the rounds were getting closer and tougher to score. Cunningham was busier and Tarver was landing the bigger punches. Tarver often allowed Cunningham to let his hands go and land numerous punches before attempting to fire back with the bigger shots. Tarver stunned Cunningham on more than one occasion. He was never able to follow up as Cunningham would often hold him and then fired back to push Tarver back.
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