Krzysztof Gowacki vs. Steve Cunningham

WBO CW title at stake, the 1st defense of Głowacki. Cunningham returns from an eight-fight stand at heavyweight reaching a deceptive 4-3-1 (1) mark but proving a very capable h2h contender...having never exceeded 210lb in his campaign and very near the CW limit at 204 in his recent draw with Antonio Tarver.

Cunningham originally made his bones in the sport with a championship-rounds stoppage of tough Marco Huck to claim the IBF cruiser world title. Eight years later, hitherto unknown Głowacki did the same to capture the WBO version...oddly enough, in the co-feature to main event Cunningham vs. Tarver, which featured no title on the line. They are the only two men to ever stop Huck.

Głowacki recently had surgery on his left wrist & elbow but was said to be well on his way to recovery in early December. The proposed title defense would likely take place in Poland.

The challenger has posted 1-3 career stats versus Poles, but all three losses were split decisions and some would argue he ought to be 4-0.

 

Eh, for now I file Główka under "need more data". He looked good dispatching Huck but that's his only world class opponent (with quite a drop-off between Hukic and the likes of Seferi, Karl, Abdoul, Askin, or Kracik) so it remains to be seen whether he's really on that level or just happened to strike gold with a fortuitous stylistic match-up.

I'm not ready to outright favor him to stop a dogged warrior like USS, and if he does I'll be mightily impressed. (though of course the boo-birds will likely start chirping about Cunningham being "drained" :-()

 

Cunningham is vastly more experienced, Glowacki beating Huck was Great but he showed a lot a flaws in that fight against a guy who's pretty stiff in the ring. I think that Cunninham did good as a HW but is truly a CW and will outbox and maybe even outpoint Glowacki in his natural division and take back the cruiserweight strap. He get's robbed if they fight in Poland.

 

atsch

He never stopped being a blown-up CW. Ditching the couple of extra pounds of muscle he caked on won't have any sort of adverse effect IMO - just like Márquez suffered no ill effects from his 1st poorly-executed climb up to welter (looking fine against Díaz, Katsidis, and Ramos) nor his 2nd (dominating Fedchenko in between Pac III & IV). Dinamita could drop to 140lb again now and beat everyone but Crawford and maybe Postol, of that I've no doubt.

 

Don't see USS having to drain. He was only a few pounds over CW while fighting at HW.

 

Doesn't Glowacki fight Usyk next?

 

Exactly. He averaged 206½ across eight fights at HW, and only twice came above 208lbs (with a peak of 2010 against Fury, and 209½ against Glazkov)

 

Could be a little too late for Cunningham here, but he's got a shot...

 

Yeah he's hardly gained enough mass for it to matter, if anything he'll be more comfortable and within his element as far as size goes.

 

Agree, beating Huck may be a one off, needs more to be proven.

 

Glowacki on a close UD.

Cunningham is a quality operator who seems to be continuously overlooked or underrated.

At this point in his career though I can see Glowacki outworking him over the 12.

 

Cunningham in his prime beats him, right now it's hard to tell. Glowacki should rematch with Huck.