CUNNING PLAN
Jason used pandemic to mount world title charge
JASON CUNNINGHAM can take his next step to becoming boxing’s latest Cinderella Man tonight.
The Doncaster southpaw takes on former world champion Zolani Tete in a bid to get on the world-title path.
The fact he is even at this stage is beyond anyone’s prediction.
There weren’t many winners during the Covid-19 pandemic but Cunningham certainly was.
‘The Iceman’ was brought in as a routine defence for Gamal Yafai’s European super-bantamweight title in May 2021.
He came into the bout on the back of two four rounders and a six rounder, having been used earlier in his career by Yafai’s brother Kal, Michael Conlan, Reece Bellotti and Jordan Gill as a stepping stone or progression fight.
But Cunningham changed the course of a career which had seen him lose six times previously when he floored Yafai three times on the way to a unanimous points win.
Then Brad Foster put his British and Commonwealth title on the line only to suffer a similar fate. Cunningham, now 32, somehow is eyeing world titles when just a couple of years ago he must have been thinking about getting a couple more pay days before forgetting about boxing.
Tete (inset) presents a step up in level. The South African has 22 KOs in 29 wins which include coming to England to dethrone
Paul Butler of the IBF flyweight title in 2015.
His last visit to these shores ended with a brutal defeat by
John Riel Casimero at bantamweight in 2019 when he was knocked out in the third.
Tete, 34, has fought just once since and he’s now up at super-bantamweight. That and the inactivity is giving Cunningham hope his quick rags-to-riches story can continue.
“It had been mooted a few times,” said Cunningham, who faces Tete at Wembley Arena. “I love a challenge and it is a fight I will get credit for.
“He is a name, he has chinned Paul Butler and I thought this is the chance to prove how good I am.
“I know he has been inactive for the last couple of years but, still, he has been there and he has done it.
“The time is now really, if I want to be world champion I need to beat Tete.”