Steve Cunningham and Antonio Tarver fight out a heavyweight draw in New Jersey

Five-time world champion Antonio Tarver fought to a 12-round draw with former cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham in a lacklustre heavyweight contender bout on Friday night at the Prudential Centre.

One judge scored it 115-113 for the 46-year-old Tarver (31-6-1, 22 KOs), the second had it 115-114 for Cunningham (28-7-1), and the third had it 114-114, resulting in the draw.

Tarver was hoping to stay in line for a possible heavyweight title fight, but did not enhance his chances in his first fight of the year.

“I knew that the judges were not educated on my defence and gamesmanship,” Tarver said. “I threw all the harder punches. I controlled the tempo. I wasn’t tired. He didn’t hurt me. I got my jab in and outboxed him. I won the fight and did what I had to do to win the fight. I got a draw and I’m not satisfied with it.”

The 39-year-old Cunningham fought for the first time since a 12-round decision loss in March to Vyacheslav Glazkov.

The heavyweight bout between the two aging veterans did not produce a lot of action.

In the fourth round, Tarver staggered Cunningham with two straight left hands, but didn’t have enough to cause significant damage.

Cunningham seemed to be in better physical condition than his opponent, but didn’t get much of a chance to use that conditioning. He did manage to score points in the middle rounds with a solid left jab, but none that seriously hurt Tarver.