Can Steve Cunningham be a competitive Heavyweight?

[Bea5T]

well??

[Jerry St Clair]

Can you?, i know i can.

[The Hammer]

Yes, he could.

[TheGreatA]

I doubt it. He usually weighs in at around 190 lbs, the cruiserweight division seems to be his natural weight.

I don't think Cunningham can make 175 and he would have to put on a lot of extra weight to become a heavyweight.

[Guest]

I doubt it. He usually weighs in at around 190 lbs, the cruiserweight division seems to be his natural weight.

I don't think Cunningham can make 175 and he would have to put on a lot of extra weight to become a heavyweight.

It's amazing to me that certain guys could do it pretty well like Holyfield and Michael Spinks before his career ending loss and some others, but others such as Bob Foster who was a big light heavy and very tall got crushed.
It's hard to say.

Let me reserve judgement until the Adamek fight, then I can tell you.

[The Hammer]

I doubt it. He usually weighs in at around 190 lbs, the cruiserweight division seems to be his natural weight.

I don't think Cunningham can make 175 and he would have to put on a lot of extra weight to become a heavyweight.

No, he usually weighs in at about 193-194, at least in recent fights.

He's 6'3" and has a reach of 82". That makes him taller than many heavyweights, and longer than most.

He's naturally a bigger man than Byrd, Chambers, and Ibragimov who have all done well at heavyweight. Let's not forget that years ago, there were plenty of heavyweights who weighed in at 193-194.

[TheGreatA]

It's amazing to me that certain guys could do it pretty well like Holyfield and Michael Spinks before his career ending loss and some others, but others such as Bob Foster who was a big light heavy and very tall got crushed.
It's hard to say.

Let me reserve judgement until the Adamek fight, then I can tell you.

Foster's problem was that he always weighed at around 175-180 while Spinks and Holyfield were both able to comfortably fight at 200+ lbs.

His punches didn't do enough damage on heavyweights that were 30 lbs bigger. At LHW he would've been a terrible match-up for someone like Frazier but at HW Smokin' Joe ran right over him in 2 rounds, Foster just wasn't strong enough to hold Frazier off.

I don't see the point in Cunningham moving up to the heavyweight division except the money and the big fights which he hasn't had at this point (although I doubt he would find them at HW either), he always fights at 190 lbs although the cruiserweight limit is 200.

Giving up 50 lbs to someone like Wladimir Klitschko would not be a good idea.

Adding 20-30 lbs to his already solid frame doesn't sound too good either.

[Guest]

Foster's problem was that he always weighed at around 175-180 while Spinks and Holyfield were both able to comfortably fight at 200+ lbs.

His punches just didn't do enough damage on heavyweights that were 30 lbs bigger. At LHW he would've been a terrible match-up for someone like Frazier but at HW Smokin' Joe ran over him in 2 rounds, he just wasn't strong enough.

I don't see the point in Cunningham moving up to the heavyweight division except the money and the big fights which he hasn't had at this point (although I doubt he would find them at HW either), he always fights at 190 lbs although the cruiserweight limit is 200.

Giving up 50 lbs to someone like Wladimir Klitschko would not be a good idea.

Cruiser has gotten better in recent days, but let's face it, as crappy as the heavyweights are, they still make more money so he may do it, right or not.

I remember doing a poll on the best cruiser fights in history and sad to say most people didn't even see things like Qawi-Holyfield or even Toney-Jirov.
Hell some didn't even see Mormeck-Bell.

I do agree a huge heavyweight with some thump would be trouble for anyone not just USS Steve.

[totalstranga]

maybe given his height, and like someone said, the $$ will probably make him give it a try in the end. BUT, I don't think he'd do well against the top guys. I used to get excited when CW's moved up trying to emulate Holyfield, but after Orlin Norris, Al Cole, Mayfield, and whoever else you wanna name, I've soured on the idea a bit. I'm interested in Haye now, but Steve should stay and try to unify CW before cashing in