"I went to Hernandez to shake his hand and he was shrugging his shoulders like, 'What's going on?' He knew what was going on. They wanted revenge for Huck, who was ringside laughing and giggling. If you get revenge like that, or get a title like that, that's sad. Real men will win it in the ring...we like the way the IBF does things. Unlike some of the sanctioning bodies, the IBF stuck to their rules. That's all I ask for is a fair shot, and I know I'm gonna get it. I know with my ability and the lord, Jesus Christ, we gonna get it...It's not over and we haven't gone anywhere. I'm still the best cruiserweight in the world and I'm gonna prove it," stated former cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham, who talked about his controversial loss to Yoan Pablo Hernandez, the immediate rematch that the IBF ordered, and much more. Check it out!
DK: Steve, how are you feeling after the fight?
SC: Right now, I'm still angry. I'm getting more mad as time goes by. I have to be called former champ now, which is bogus. It was a blatant, obvious robbery. If you beat me fair, then congrats, but I was the better man. He was about to go in the next round or two. You got judges with ridiculous scores. And then another thing, the doctor who stopped the fight, when the corner tells the doctor to stop the fight, that should be a TKO win for me. This is the same doctor that let [Arthur] Abraham fight with a broken jaw. It's documented that Hernandez's corner said stop the fight. Hernandez never had blood in his eyes. I understand why other champs don't wanna go overseas to fight, and that's great if you have the power to stay in the States, but I know God has a purpose, a plan, and I will be world champ again.
DK: I'm with you. I understand where you're coming from. Your heads clashed a few times throughout the fight. Do you think Hernandez could have continued?
SC: Yeah! If you look at the tape, it was his trainer, who is very popular in Germany, and they're very angry I stopped [Marco] Huck. The papers were saying this will be revenge for Huck and trainer Ulli Wegner and Hernandez is ready to fight. I looked at Naz [Richardson] and he said, "Man, they got you."
DK: Who made the call to stop the fight? The ref or the doctor?
SC: When I got up from the corner, me and my assistant trainer, we ran over to the ref. Truthfully, the fight should have been stopped after the 3rd [round] due to that cut, which was way worse than the split on his forehead. The ref mumbled to us, "Technical draw." We thought it was a technical draw, then my wife and lawyer are arguing, and then they went to the scorer's table. The cutman for Hernandez is from California and he told me afterwards, "I'm sorry, man, but they told me not to work on the cut." These guys overseas try to cover every base and they overdo it. I'm still pissed, man. I don't feel like I suffered a loss. I don't feel anything should change because they cheated me.
DK: Did Hernandez say anything to you after the fight? Did he want to continue?
SC: After we talked to the ref, I went to Hernandez to shake his hand and he was shrugging his shoulders like, "What's going on?" He knew what was going on. They wanted revenge for Huck, who was ringside laughing and giggling. If you get revenge like that, or get a title like that, that's sad. Real men will win it in the ring.
DK: So it looks like the IBF ordered the immediate rematch.
SC: I've been a champion since '06 with the IBF and we like the way the IBF does things. Unlike some of the sanctioning bodies, the IBF stuck to their rules. That's all I ask for is a fair shot, and I know I'm gonna get it. I know with my ability and the lord, Jesus Christ, we gonna get it.
DK: Are you willing to go back and fight in Europe?
SC: Yeah. Yes, yes, and I have to because I'm signed with a German promoter. That's the other problem is there aren't any promoters in America willing to put those numbers in a championship cruiserweight. That's where the exposure is for cruisers. It's about the money, and the money and fan base and TV is overseas. My fight was shown in England, South Africa, Poland, Australia, and tons of other places. I don't even know what the easy road is anymore so the hard road is what I'm gonna take.
DK: We've talked about this before. You're too small to be a true heavyweight, but would you be willing to fight a rematch with Tomasz Adamek at heavyweight?
SC: We were actually thinking about it, and it would be interesting to fight him. Putting on 10 more pounds, I could do that and we wanna give the fans what they want.
DK: Thanks Steve. I'll talk to you soon.
SC: For sure. It's not over and we haven't gone anywhere. I'm still the best cruiserweight in the world and I'm gonna prove it.
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