Former cruiserweight king, Steve ‘USS’ Cunningham, is close to securing his first opponent, Guyana’s Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite, in his quest to regain the IBF cruiserweight crown he lost, by a close split decision, to Tomasz ‘Goral’ Adamek last December.

‘USS’ Cunningham, who beat Krzysztof ‘Diablo’ Wlodarczyk to become the IBF cruiserweight champion in Katowice, Poland in May ‘07 and successfully defended it seven months later against Marco ‘Kapt’n’ Huck in Bielefeld, Germany, had been hoping to secure a quick rematch with Adamek of their December 11th “Fight of the Year” nominated classic, but after the announcement that Adamek was to face Johnathon Banks on the 27th February, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, started to look elsewhere.

When the news came through that an opportunity to face former WBC cruiserweight champion, Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite, was available, after BJ Flores decided against facing Braithwaite in an IBF cruiserweight
title eliminator bout, ‘USS’ Cunningham could barely hide his joy as he said. “I am really looking forward to this fight. This is a fight that I expected to happen a few years ago. Wayne is a tough, strong guy. He was
a great champ and I expect this to be a great fight.

So far my promoter has said that no networks are interested in this fight and that is disappointing. Wayne is an exciting fighter, former world champion, and me coming off of my last fight with Adamek and all the attention that fight got, I know the American fans would want to see this fight.

This fight is very important to me, this will put me back in line as mandatory challenger for Adamek, assuming he gets past Banks, which I hope he does. I’m going to be champ again and I want to take my title back
from Adamek.”

‘USS’ Cunningham’s proposed opponent, Wayne “Big Truck” Braithwaite, became WBC champion after stopping Vincenzo Cantatore in the tenth round on the 11th October 2002 in Italy. After successfully defending his title
three times he faced WBA champ Jean-Marc Mormeck in an unification match in March 2005. After twelve hard fought rounds Mormeck emerged victorious. In 2007 Braithwaite traveled to Cardiff, Wales to challenge Enzo
Maccarinelli for his WBO title. Again, after twelve action packed rounds, ‘Big Truck’ was on the losing side of a points decision.

On paper this match-up has “classic” and “thriller” stamped all over it. Two magnificent former champions locked in battle to regain their coveted number one status. Add to that their contrast in their styles,
Braithwaite’s a hard punching southpaw with an impressive knockout record whereas Cunningham’s an athletic fighter with fast hands and a high punch rate. Those elements can only lead to an exciting all-action contest, if not an all out war, being on the cards. It is quite likely that this fight could be even more exciting than last December’s, “Fight of the Year” nominated, Cunningham-Adamek battle!

It is expected that the date and location of Steve ‘USS’ Cunningham vs. Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite will be announced shortly.

VIC DARCHINYAN RETAINS 115-POUND TITLES WITH EXCITING 11TH-ROUND TKO OVER JORGE ARCE,
ANTHONY DEMARCO OUTLASTS KID DIAMOND

In an intense, one-sided slugfest, hard-hitting Vic Darchinyan (32-1-1, 26 KOs) of Sydney, Australia, by way of Armenia, retained his International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Association (WBA) super flyweight world titles with an 11th-round TKO over heated rival and former world champion Jorge Arce (51-5-1, 39 KOs) of Los Mochis, Mexico, Saturday on SHOWTIME.

In the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING co-feature, Antonio DeMarco (21-1-1, 15 KOs) of Tijuana, Mexico, scored a thrilling, hard-fought ninth-round TKO over “Kid Diamond” Almazbek Raiymkulov (27-2-1, 15 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nev., to capture the North American Boxing Organization (NABO) lightweight title.

The crowd-pleasing twinbill, presented by Gary Shaw Productions, LLC, and Bob Arum’s Top Rank, Inc., emanated from The Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. It aired on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast).

The referee, after conferring with the ringside physician, halted the Darchinyan-Arce proceedings due to cuts around the challenger’s eyes and on his head. There were no knockdowns.

“He surprised me. I didn’t expect a fight from him like this,’’ said Darchinyan, who was ahead 109-100 on the three judges’ scorecards after 11 completed rounds. “But he was tough. He is a good fighter. I hit him with some good shots, but he kept coming back.

“I would have liked to knock him out cold, but this is OK. I am happy. I feel great. Maybe if it goes another round, I knock him out.

“Arce hit me with some good shots, but I was too strong. I think my speed was a difference. I am ready to fight anybody.’’

Darcinyan was making his first defense since unifying the 115-pound division with a ninth-round knockout over Mexico’s Cristian Mijares Nov. 1, 2008, on SHOWTIME. Arce, a former WBC 115-pound and World Boxing Organization (WBO) 108-pound titleholder, gave it his all. The loss ended a five-fight winning streak for Arce, who had won 31 out of 32 entering the bout.

DeMarco, the son in law of former world champion Raul “Jibaro” Perez, got the victory when Kid Diamond would not come out for the 10th round due to an injury. It was DeMarco’s fourth victory on SHOWTIME; the others came on ShoBox: The New Generation in 2008.

At the finish of a good action fight that featured many exchanges, DeMarco was ahead on two scorecards, 88-83, and behind on the other, 86-85.

“I got the confidence to enter the ring from my family and trainers.’’ DeMarco said. “They believed in me and trained me and that’s how I got the win.’’

SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING announcers Gus Johnson and Al Bernstein called the action from ringside with Jim Gray and Karyn Bryant reporting from ringside. The executive producer of SHOWTIME Sports is David Dinkins Jr., with Bob Dunphy directing.

NAKASH SHINES AT THE LEGENDARY BLUE HORIZON

In front of a near capacity crowd, Ran Nakash emphatically blew out Ryan Carrol by scoring a second round stoppage in a scheduled eight round main event of a six bout card at The Legendary Blue Horizon.

Nakash of Haifa, Israel scored the first of three knockdowns late in round one with a big left hook to the body just before the bell rang to end the round. Carrol, of Delaware, Ohio never really recovered as Nakash was all over him and deposited Carrol on the ground two more times in round time with a left to the head and the Israeli soldier ended things with a hard uppercut that forced referee Steve Smoger to mercifully end the bout at 2:06 of round two.

Nakash is now 17-0 with thirteen knockouts.

Nakash will now go back to Israel and re-take his place in the Israeli Army

Looking just as spectacular was Nakash’s stablemate, Elad Shmouel in the co-feature.

Shmouel of Tel Aviv, Israel showed no signs of ring rust as he was coming off a fourteen month break to dispose of Khristian Garaci of Pittsburgh at 1:32 of the second round in a four round Jr. Welterweight bout.

Shmouel was his usual swarming self as he landed some vicious body attacks that Garaci had a very difficult time dealing with until a barrage of punches forced Smoger to stop the fight.

In the other six round bout, Julius Edmonds out worked Linwood Hurd to score s ix round unanimous decision in a Jr. Welterweight bout.

FULL RESULTS

8 ROUND CRUISERWEIGHT BOUT—Ran Nakash (17-0, 13 KO’s), 204 ½ lbs of Haifa, Israel TKO 2 (2:06) over Ryan Carrol (7-2), 201 lbs of Delaware, Ohio

6 ROUND JR. WELTERWEIGHTS—Elad Shmouel (19-2, 10 KO’s), 143 ½ lbs of Tel Aviv, Israel TKO 2 (1:32) Khristian Garaci (4-6-1) of Pittsburgh, PA

6 ROUND JR. WELTERWEIGHT—Julius Edmonds (4-3), 140 lbs of Philadelphia, PA UD (59-55, 58-6, 58-56) over Linwood Hurd (2-1-3), 135 lbs of Atlantic City, NJ

4 ROUND MIDDLEWEIGHT—Marcus Bianconi (2-0, 2 KO’s), 161 lbs of Houston, Texas TKO END OF 2 over John Turner (1-1), 161 lbs of Philadelphia, PA

4 ROUND JR MIDDLEWEIGHT—Ardrick Butler (1-1), 149 ½ lbs of Philadelphia, PA SD (40-36, 39-38, 37-39) over Anthony Abrams (1-6). 147 ½ lbs of Philadelphia, PA

4 ROUND WELTERWEIGHT—Ronald Cruz (2-0, 1 KO), 142 ½ lbs of Bethlehem, PA TKO 3 (2:52) over Adam Duncan (0-1), Philadelphia, Pa

THE NEXT SHOW AT THE LEGENDARY BLUE HORIZON IS APRIL 3RD