Steven Ormain Cunningham (born July 15, 1976) is an American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who held the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

cruiserweight title twice between 2007 and 2011. His nickname, "USS", is a reference to his

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

service on the aircraft carriers and between 1994 and 1998.

Early years and amateur career

A native of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Cunningham gained a reputation as a tough fighter on the streets of Philly, but he began his amateur career while based at

Norfolk Naval Station Naval Station Norfolk is a United States Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, that is the headquarters and home port of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Forces Command. The installation occupies about of waterfront space and of pier and wharf space of the Hampt ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. Cunningham served in the Navy from 1994 to 1998, serving on the aircraft carriers and . Cunningham started boxing at the age of 19, and won the

National Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nationa ...

title in 1998 as an amateur.

Professional career

Cunningham began his professional career in 2000 with a 19 fight winning streak including a split decision over

Guillermo Jones Guillermo Jones (born May 5, 1972) is a former Panamanian professional boxer. He held the WBA cruiserweight title from 2008 to 2012, and challenged twice for the WBA super welterweight title in 1998. Professional career Jones made his professi ...

. On November 26, 2006, he challenged

Krzysztof Włodarczyk Krzysztof Włodarczyk (; born 19 September 1981) is a Polish professional boxer.. Retrieved 30 September 2016. He is a two-time former cruiserweight world champion, having held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title from 2006 to 2007 ...

for the Vacant IBF Cruiserweight Title but lost by a disputed split decision in front of Wlodarczyk's fans in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Mazowieckie The Masovian Voivodeship, also known as the Mazovia Province ( pl, województwo mazowieckie ) is a voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, with its capital located in the city of Warsaw, which also serves as the capital of the country. The ...

, Poland. Later, Cunningham challenged Wlodarczyk again in the summer of 2007. With a majority decision in his favor, Cunningham at last won the title. He stopped undefeated

Marco Huck Muamer Hukić (born 11 November 1984), best known as Marco Huck, is a German professional boxer.. Retrieved 2015-12-01. He held the WBO cruiserweight title from 2009 to 2015, and is the joint-longest reigning cruiserweight world champion of all ...

in Germany in December 2007. Cunningham lost the IBF title against

Tomasz Adamek Tomasz "Tomek" Adamek (; born 1 December 1976) is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2018. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBC light heavyweight title from 2005 to 2007, and the IBF an ...

in Newark, New Jersey, on December 11, 2008. He lost the fight via split decision. One judge scored the fight 114–112 for Cunningham, while the other two judges scored it 116–110 and 115–112 for Adamek. Fight was close despite of the fact that Cunningham was knocked down in the second, fourth, and eighth rounds. Cunningham faced former WBC Cruiserweight Champion

Wayne Braithwaite Wayne "Big Truck" Braithwaite (born August 9, 1975) is a Guyanese former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2012, and held the WBC cruiserweight title from 2002 to 2005.. Retrieved November 26, 2016. Professional career The highlight ...

, at the BankAtlantic Center, Sunrise, Florida on the July 11, 2009, and won the fight via a twelve-round unanimous decision 119–109, 117–111, and 118–110. On June 5, 2010, Cunningham regained the IBF Cruiserweight title with a fifth round stoppage on cuts of

Troy Ross Troy Amos-Ross (born July 17, 1975) is a Guyanese-Canadian boxer. As an amateur, he competed in the light heavyweight division at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Personal life He is the son of ...

in Germany. Cunningham returned to Germany to defend his IBF title against challenger Enad Licina on February 12, 2011.

Cunningham vs. Fury

Cunningham was knocked out in the seventh round by

Tyson Fury Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the World Boxing Council, WBC title since defeating Deontay Wilder in 2020, and ''The Ring (magazine), The Ring'' ...

, a British boxer, in an IBF heavyweight title eliminator on April 20, 2013. Cunningham had the much bigger Fury down in the second round. At the time of the stoppage, Cunningham was winning the fight with 56–56, 57–55, and 57–55. In an interview with

Joe Rogan Joseph James Rogan (born August 11, 1967) is an American UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly ...

, Fury claimed Cunningham was the toughest opponent of his career. After being promoted by

Kathy Duva Kathy Duva is an American boxing promoter and current CEO of Main Events, a New Jersey-based boxing promotion company. In 2019 she was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Early life Duva graduated from Montclair State College with ...

and Main Events for several years, he was now advised by

Al Haymon Al Haymon (born April 21, 1955) is an American businessman and boxing manager. He was the manager of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and has won the Boxing Writers of America Manager of the Year Award five times. Early life Haymon was raised in Cleveland, ...

. Cunningham was trained by

Naazim Richardson Naazim Richardson (died 24 July 2020) was an American boxing trainer from Philadelphia. Richardson is most notable for training Bernard Hopkins and "Sugar" Shane Mosley, in addition to Steve Cunningham and Karl Dargan. He is also known for catchi ...

Cunningham vs. Glowacki

On April 16, 2016, Cunningham fought Krzysztof Glowacki for his WBO world cruiserweight belt. Glowacki dropped Cunningham four times, twice in the second round, and once in both the tenth and the twelfth round en route to a unanimous decision victory.

Cunningham vs. Tabiti

On August 26, 2017, Cunningham fought Andrew Tabiti. Tabiti was ranked #4 by the WBC, #9 by the IBF and #12 by the WBA at cruiserweight, while Cunningham was ranked #10 by the IBF at the time. Tabiti won the fight via unanimous decision, 100–90, 97–93 and 97–93.

Cunningham vs. Mir

Cunningham defeated former

UFC Heavyweight Champion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships. Historical notes At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classe ...

Frank Mir Francisco Santos Mir III (; born May 24, 1979), is an American mixed martial artist who most recently competed for Bellator MMA in the Heavyweight division. He formerly competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for sixteen years. A f ...

by unanimous decision in Mir's boxing debut on April 17, 2021, on the undercard of

Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren was a professional boxing match between YouTuber Jake Paul and former mixed martial artist Ben Askren. The bout took place on April 17, 2021, at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Paul won the bout via TKO ...

. Cunningham served as a replacement for

Antonio Tarver Antonio Deon Tarver (born November 21, 1968) is an American former professional boxer and boxing commentator. In boxing he competed from 1997 to 2015, and held multiple light heavyweight world championships, including the WBA (Unified), WBC, IB ...

who was denied clearance by the Georgia Athletic & Entertainment Commission.

Outside of boxing

He joined light-middleweight

Boyd Melson Boyd "Rainmaker" Melson (born October 16, 1981) is a retired American light middleweight boxer. As an amateur, Melson won the 48th World Military Boxing Championship gold medal in the weight class, and was a three-time United States Army ch ...

Shawn Estrada Shawn Estrada (born April 1, 1985) is an undefeated Mexican American professional boxer in the Super Middleweight division and was a U.S. Olympian at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Estrada ran for the city council in Commerce, California. Early li ...

Demetrius Andrade Demetrius Cesar Andrade ( ; born February 26, 1988) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBO light middleweight title between 2013-2015, the WBA (Regular) title in 2017, ...

and other boxers in Team Fight to Walk, an organization focused on increasing awareness in boxing of the importance of

stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...

research for

spinal cord injuries A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. Symptoms may include loss of muscle function, sensation, or autonomic function in the parts of the body served by the spinal cor ...

. Cunningham is a practicing

Black Hebrew Israelite Black Hebrew Israelites (also called Hebrew Israelites, Black Hebrews, Black Israelites, and African Hebrew Israelites) are groups of African Americans who believe that they are the descendants of the ancient Israelites. Some sub-groups belie ...

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Steve Cunningham profile
at ''

Premier Boxing Champions ''Premier Boxing Champions'' (PBC) is an ongoing series of televised boxing events connected to manager Al Haymon. PBC was initially promoted as an effort to return boxing to mainstream broadcast and cable television, as opposed to premium chann ...

''
Steve Cunningham - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Steve 1976 births Living people African-American boxers Boxers from Philadelphia Black Hebrew Israelite people Heavyweight boxers International Boxing Federation champions National Golden Gloves champions United States Navy sailors American male boxers Light-heavyweight boxers World cruiserweight boxing champions 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople African-American United States Navy personnel