Frank Mir is no stranger to the fight game. 

The former UFC heavyweight champion has fought 32 times as a mixed martial artist and racked up 19 wins. 

The forty-one-year-old will be looking for a new kind of victory when he makes his professional boxing debut against Steve Cunningham on April 17 on Triller pay per view as one of the supporting bouts on the Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren card.

The former two-time cruiserweight champion Cunningham (29-9-1, 13 KOs) is a replacement opponent stepping in for the 51-year-old Antonio Tarver.

“The one thing that hasn’t changed, it was always going to be a challenge,” said Mir. “It was going to be something I knew was going to bring the best out of me. Tarver, and I’m not taking away from Cunningham’s boxing skills, Tarver relies more on being cunning, trying to get points for the judges, tying up, landing from distance. Their fight together, Cunningham was trying to make it a fight and Tarver slowed it down and made it very close to eek out the split decision, or the draw. Cunningham is a much tougher guy.”

The 44-year-old Cunningham has fought professionally for 17 years but not since 2017. The Philly fighter is 1-3-1 in his last five fights. He came away with a split draw versus Tarver in 2015.  

“I’m not going to have that advantage in age that I thought I was going to have over Tarver,” said Mir. “I knew Tarver probably wasn’t going to come in the best shape. As far as boxing IQ, Cunningham is better than I, but Tarver has even more.”

Mir entertained offers from the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship in September but never fought for the league. 

In his MMA career, he has nine wins via submission and four via decision. He came away victorious in the Bellator cage in 2019 for his last fight against Roy Nelson. It stopped a four-fight losing streak. 

Mir has scored just five knockouts in his MMA career. If Cunningham has any KO power left, it could prove to be Mir’s kryptonite. Of the Las Vegas-based fighter’s 13 MMA losses, 10 have come via knockout. 

Mir will be the heavier fighter come fight night. He said he’ll weigh in the neighborhood of 270 pounds. Cunningham said he’ll tip the scales near 210 pounds. Both fighters stand at 6-feet-3.

“I’m making my debut in the boxing discipline and I’m facing someone who is a former champ,” said Mir. “As far as debuts go for guys going into boxing, this is probably one of the most difficult ones. Obviously I was a professional in MMA I have experience, but this is a new animal all together, so going out there and obviously being victorious is phenomenal, but going out there and being proficient and having a good showing and a good representation of what mixed martial arts are able to do in boxing, is also a victory.”

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com