Jason Cunningham had little trouble brushing aside the challenge of Terry Le Couviour in the second defence of his European super-bantamweight title.
The 32-year-old Yorkshireman is riding the crest of a wave since turning his career around against Gamal Yafai in May 2021.
Cunningham (31-6, 7 KOs) is eyeing a world title opportunity at 122lbs and will face far greater tests than the one posed by Le Couviour (16-1, 2 KOs). The Frenchman attempted to pressurise the Englishman and mak aggression count, but the champion was comfortable on the back foot in the first round.
The second began to produce the writing on the wall for the challenger who was dropped by a left to the body in round 2. Le Couviour had been hit by an uppercut to the same area seconds before and so began some target practice to the mid-section for Cunningham who tried to finish the job but had to contend with a 10-8 round.
A left hand down the pipe kicked off Cunningham’s success in the third. Le Couviour’s attempt at becoming European champion was falling apart and he shook his head in displeasure after being punched above the trunks once again. That was with less than a minute gone in round 3. The man from Morbihan rallied briefly but Cunningham toyed with him at times and would have known he had his opponent on a plate ready to be carved up.
Cunningham had only six wins inside the distance before tonight after 36 fights, but his power was too much on this occasion. The body attacks continued in the 4th and a one-two almost had Le Couviour’s knee momentarily on the floor, but he bounced back up. He winced once again afterCunningham caught the sides once more it and was a matter of time before the fight was finished.
Seconds into the 6th round and Le Couviour wanted out of the Telford International Centre thanks to a left counter to the body The underwhelming challenge from France was over. Referee Fabian Guggenheim began the count and despite being on his feet at 8 Le Couviour said au revoir to the man in the middle as he trudged back to his corner a broken and defeated man.
“I’m over the moon,” the champion told BT Sport afterwards.
“He didn’t like the body shots and that were the key. We spotted him eating Ben and Jerry’s ice- cream this morning, so I reckoned his stomach was a target to for!”
“Onwards and upwards. Everyone knows I don’t shy away from fights. Obviously, I want to push towards a world title.”
“I think Le Couviour made it really easy at times for Cunningham,” said BT Sports pundit and former two-weight world champion Carl Frampton. “I was a bit disappointed in him. A good performance from Jason Cunningham.”