Philadelphia, PA: Steve “USS” Cunningham (26-6-0, 12 KOs) has been boxing professionally for almost 14 years and has 32 professional fights under his belt, his opponent USBA Heavyweight Champion Amir “Hardcore” Mansour (20-0-0, 15 KOs) has much less professional experience but honed his boxing skills while serving time in a federal corrections facility and has “Hardcore” knockout power. When these two hometown warriors collide at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA on Friday, April 4 on NBCSN Fight Night the question on everyone’s mind will be whether or not Cunningham’s experience can overcome Mansour’s power? The scouting report for this heavyweight match-up is below:
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USS Cunningham
Photo Credits:
Rich Graessle/Main Events
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Category |
Steve “USS” Cunningham |
Amir “Hardcore” Mansour |
| Age |
37 |
41 |
| Record |
26-6-0, 12 KOs |
20-0-0, 15 KOs |
| Strength | Cunningham is a crafty former world cruiserweight champion with more experience than his older opponent. He is taller with longer reach too. | Mansour is a big, big puncher. The southpaw outweighs Cunningham by approximately 25 pounds. |
| Weakness | Steve is not known as a knock out puncher. He sometimes tires in final rounds of 12-round bouts. | Amir lacks experience in big fights. Also he tends to brawl. While he outweighs Cunningham, he is the shorter man of the two men at 6’1″ |
| Experience | Cunningham as the two-time cruiserweight world champion clearly has the edge here. | Mansour has scored most of his wins via early KO. He is taking a big step up with this bout against a former world champion – this will be the biggest fight of his career. |
| Power | Although Steve is not generally known for his power, at heavyweight, he knocked down Tyson Fury. He said, “People know me as a superb boxer. I can get gritty and grimy with him; if need to be I will.” | The power edge goes to Mansour, who has a 75% (15 of 20) knockout-to-win ratio. Mansour said, “They don’t call me Hardcore for nothing. April 4th I got to do what I got to do. This is my time to shine. I am prepared for war. We are going to get it on.” |
| Speed | Steve is the smaller fighter so with that speed comes. He is the better boxer and has faster hands. | Mansour does not have much speed, but can double that jab and Steve may not see that left coming from the bigger southpaw. |
| Endurance | Cunningham has gone 12 rounds nine times in his career. | The edge here has to go to Cunningham because Mansour has only gone 12 rounds once in his career. |
| Accuracy | Steve is a boxer that will mix it up when he wants to. He does not waste many punches. | Mansour’s accuracy is his one punch knockout power, if he connects, his opponent is going down. |
| Defense | Steve is a boxer so he is more likely to slip more punches. | Mansour’s only defense is his power. |
| Chin | Cunningham was only stopped once in his career by Tyson Fury, who did it with an illegal punch. | Mansour has never been down in his career so his chin is still in question. |
| Style | Steve is a boxer/puncher. | Mansour is a southpaw/big puncher. |
| Crowd Support | 50/50 – Steve is a Philadelphia native fighting in front of his home crowd. | 50/50 – Amir is Philadelphia trained and a Delaware native so Philadelphia is his adoptive home crowd. However, Brother Naazim Richardson, Cunningham’s trainer said, “Fighting here in Philly is an advantage for Mansour. His supporters are based in Philly. He’s got Philly history behind him.” |
| The Match-Up | This is an interesting match-up because Cunningham is an experienced boxer and Mansour has less experience but he is a really big puncher. |
About this match-up Cunningham said, “This time I am going to step it up a lot. I am supposed to be here. If I can stop him I will. Opposition brings out the best in me. With Quezada they said I broke his rib. It is a skill level thing. Mansour is hungry, driven, has got a good team and that will bring out the best in him. But this will be the best Steve Cunningham the world has ever seen.” Mansour does not seem to be intimidated by Cunningham’s experience. He said, “I know that I can make the adjustments that I need to make. There is a whole bag of tricks that I have up my sleeve.”
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Hardcore Mansour
Photo Credits: Mike Gladysz/Main Events
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Hall of Fame matchmaker and Philadelphia boxing legend J Russell Peltz said, “It’s the best all-Philly fight in years. Two careers are on the line in this one. The winner becomes a player in the heavyweight sweepstakes. Cunningham has to prove he’s still viable as a heavyweight and Mansour must prove he can hang with the big boys.”
Main Events’ CEO Kathy Duva said, “This is a real 50-50 fight. Neither fighter has a clear advantage. I can’t wait to find out who wins!”
About April 4th:
The event features a ten-round bout for the USBA Heavyweight Title between Steve “USS” Cunningham and USBA champion Amir “Hardcore” Mansour live on NBCSN Fight Night from the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA. The Fight Night broadcast will begin at 10 pm ET/7 pm PT. The card is presented by Main Events and Peltz Boxing in association with BAM Boxing and Joe Hand Promotions. The undercard will include a ten round middleweight match-up between Curtis “Showtime” Stevens and Tureano Johnson. The remaining undercard fights will be announced shortly. Tickets are on sale now at www.comcastTix.com and the Liacouras Center Box Office.
NBC Sports Live Extra:
NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, and tablets – will live stream Fight Night at 10 pm ET/7 pm PT on April 4th.
Coverage will be streamed via “TV Everywhere,” the media industry’s effort to make quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms.
For desktops, NBC Sports Live Extra can be accessed at NBCSports.com/liveextra. The NBC Sports Live Extra app for mobile devices and tablets is available at the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and on select Android handset and tablet devices within Google Play.
All NBC Sports Network live events live stream to PCs, mobile devices and tablets through NBC Sports Live Extra, and to the digital platforms of participating cable, satellite, and telco services, via “TV Everywhere,” which is available on an authenticated basis to subscribers of participating MVPDs.
