Boxing champ's daughter in fight of her life

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Professional boxer Steve Cunningham is the USBA Heavyweight Champion.

The West Philadelphia native has been inside the ropes for some tough battles in his 14-year boxing career, but nothing compares to the fight he's watched his 8-year-old daughter Kennedy wage since Day 1.

"I only held her one time in the first six months," Steve said.

Born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, Kennedy had her first surgery at 2 days old, spent the first year of her life in the hospital, and requires continuous medication through an IV line connected to a backpack.

"It's funny because I really compare this experience to boxing. Watching him fight is thrilling, it's exciting, but it's also scary, and very risky. It's all these mixed emotions and that's really kind of the roller-coaster we've be on with Kennedy," Liivy Kennedy said.

This past March, two weeks before the biggest fight of his career, Cunningham was told by doctors at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia there was nothing more they could do for his little girl.

"I know how to turn that anger into energy to propel me into what I'm doing. I just brought that anger to the gym," Steve said.

He won a 10 round decision and then the family learned that Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh would put Kennedy on the transplant list. So now the best fighter in the family awaits her new heart.

As she prepares for this battle, Kennedy uses a motto, one she took for her dad, "When the clock says it's about to be fight time, you need to pack up and go. It's about to be fight time right now."

"The thought of losing her, that goes into our faith. But right now, we're in fight mode. The fight's not over. We're throwing punches. We're throwing chairs. We're doing everything to win," Steve said.

To help Kennedy through her battle, visit www.heartbyfaith.com.