The International Boxing Federation junior middleweight championship with Roman “Made in Hell” Karmazin being challenged by Cory “The Next Generation” Spinks on July 8 at Savvis Center has turned into a world championship doubleheader with the addition of undefeated Steve “USS” Cunningham and Guillermo “El Felino” Jones for the vacant IBF cruiserweight title.
The respective IBF No. 1- and No. 2-ranked fighters at the 200-pound weight limit, Cunningham and Jones, will meet in a rematch that has also been added to the domestic SHOWTIME Championship Boxing telecast beginning at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The event, Gateway to Glory, is being promoted by Don King Productions and the Savvis Center in association with Budweiser.
In their first meeting on April 2, 2005, Cunningham won a split decision by disparate scores in Worcester, Mass. Two judges favored Cunningham with one at 97-93 and the second closer at 96-94. The final judge saw Jones as the wide-margin winner at 97-93.
Cunningham was to have faced undisputed cruiserweight world champion O’Neil “Supernova” Bell in March, but Bell opted to not fight and was stripped of the IBF belt.
“I guess Bell would rather lose his title rather than face me,” Cunningham said, “and that’s fine with me. Jones and I have earned the right to fight for the title. The Panamanian is a gutsy guy but nothing’s going to keep me from winning the world title.”
