Draw with Tarver sends Cunningham back to drawing board

NEWARK, N.J. - Steve Cunningham thought he did everything he needed to in his fight with Antonio Tarver to emerge victorious Friday night.

He thought he was the busier fighter, a notion backed up by CompuBox numbers. The 39-year-old Philadelphian threw 678 punches in his split draw with Tarver (31-6-1), who threw 450 punches. When the fighters did engage, it was mostly Cunningham (28-7-1) who initiated.

But Tarver landed a higher percentage of punches (31 percent to 23 percent), and he appeared to land the more telling blows, wobbling Cunningham on at least two occasions with his deceptively strong left hand.

It was an anticlimactic end for a fight in which so much was on the line for both. Tarver, 46, and Cunningham made no secret that they both are in the twilight of their careers. They entered the fight hoping to position themselves as possible opponents for heavyweight champions Deontay Wilder (WBC) or Vladimir Klitscho.

Now both are headed back to the drawing board to plot their next steps.

"Hopefully, I will be back in the ring before the end of the year, maybe in December," Cunningham said. "I want to put this fiasco of a decision behind me, talk with [adviser] Al Haymon, and see what we come up with."

As for Friday's fight, both combatants thought they had won. Tarver was more vocal about it in the aftermath, pointing out that the judges, who scored it 115-114 for him, 115-113 for Cunningham, and even at 114-114, didn't recognize his superior "ring generalship."

Cunningham said, "I'm disappointed in myself that I didn't make it obvious to the judges that I beat him. . . . I'm disappointed because we set out to do something in training camp, and we didn't make it happen."