November 22, 2024

Cunningham and Tabiti discuss snoozer

By Fightnews.com

There are no American boxers in the $50 million World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament kicking off in September, but two of the USA’s best cruisers, world rated Andrew Tabiti and former world champion Steve Cunningham, fought Saturday on the big card in Las Vegas. Tabiti took a unanimous decision, but Cunningham wasn’t impressed.

Photo: Esther Lin/SHOWTIME

Steve Cunningham: “I don’t think Andrew Tabiti is a championship level fighter. I thought I won the fight. I didn’t think I saw anything special from him. He was quick and sharp, so I didn’t want to just lunge in and make a mistake. I took my time but when I saw that he wasn’t trying to fight, I had to push it a little more. I was in there trying to fight. I thought we should have gone in there and worked for our money. He didn’t want to give the fans the show they deserved.”Andrew Tabiti: “I was just jabbing him and making sure I stayed smart. He’s a veteran so I had to stay composed. I wanted to show that I could box. This was a step up for me and I felt comfortable in there. He had a decent jab but he wasn’t busy enough. I just didn’t want to make mistakes. If you start too fast against a veteran you’re liable to get caught by him…I just stayed calm in there. I wanted it to look like I was the veteran. He didn’t press the issue enough. When he did, I was trying to catch him.”

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