You forget Povetkin vs Perez. Povetkin stops Tarver and KTFO Cunningham, while Perez wins by UD vs Tarver and TKO Cunningham.
Everything points to a Cunningham victory. Comparable talent, younger, fresher, higher level of competition at the weight. The X factor, as always with Tarver, is his southpaw stance and guile. He has undoubtedly watch Cunningham's previous fights with lefties and will come ready with a gameplan.
Tarver has the advantage in key areas like power, defense, size and chin. He has much less mileage on the clock despite being far older than Cunningham. I expect Tarver to close the show in dramatic fashion with a late round stoppage.
Good fight. Tough to call. Alot will depend on Tarver's conditioning (USS is always in shape), so I'll probably wait for the weigh-in prior to making a prediction. Superficially, Cunningham has the speed and reach advantage so if he can avoid Tarver's left he should be aight. However, Cunningham's chin was never great and Tarver tends to find a way to land the big punch. Even if Tarver can't score the KO he can win the UD if he gets a few KDs.
Il be rooting for Cunningham and will bet some vcashon him. I really wanted Tarver to face one up and coming fighter but this wwon't happen.
Ageing technician versus ageing trap-setter. I'll go with the trap-setter and say Tarver finds a way to land something big with enough frequency to allow him to pull out the win.
It all depends on how badly or if Tarver can hurt Cunningham. Tarver fights up and down to his opponents, that's dangerous against someone like Cunningham. Tarver has also slowed down a lot carrying that extra weight around. I say Tarver walks him into something while down on the cards.