Tomasz Adamek Making Light Work in Heavyweight Division
By Eoin Redahan
An Irish rugby commentator recently lamented the fact that the nation’s male sport playing public is comprised of 175-pound athletes. New Zealand delves deep into Pacific Island and Maori pockets for its behemoths and South Africa harvests minor mountains of Dutch and African descent. Ireland has no such giant-breeding reservoirs from which to bolster its forward thrust. As a result, competing with the top Southern hemisphere sides is – if you will excuse the pun – a tall order.
Unlike Irish rugby’s ailing scrum, Poland’s Tomasz Adamek seems to have very little difficulty flouting heavyweight boxing’s natural order. Starting in the light heavyweight division, he garnered the reputation for being a fine stylist with an immovable chin. He then carried his power to cruiserweight and proceeded to whip the cream of the division. Not content with two leaps of weight, he has since bulked up to heavyweight and continues to flourish; and, after his impressive victory over Chris Arreola, he is now at the tip of the contender queue.
It looks certain that Adamek will face either David Haye or one of the Klitschkos for a world title at some point in the next year. How likely is the darling of Polish fight fans to prevail against the champions of the sport’s blue most-celebrated division?
Pros:
1.Skill set: Adamek has carried his speed up to heavyweight. Not only does he have quick hands, he also displays a decent sleight of foot. He rarely throws single shots and works behind a stinging left jab. He uses the ring well, as was in evidence when he outmaneuvered Arreola from the outside.
2.Power: He put Chad Dawson on the canvas, stopped O’Neil Bell, had Steve Cunningham down three times in their encounter, and gave Arreola’s face a bad scuffing in his last bout.
Adamek is a sharp, accurate puncher with a vicious right cross. He has pummeled his way to 27 KOs in 40 fights, though he has only knocked out one of his three heavyweight opponents. Nevertheless, he has put a lot of top-level fighters on the seat of their backs, and he looks to have brought a fair share of this power to heavyweight.
3.Chin/Conditioning: Adamek may be a top-20 fighter in many people’s pound-for-pound listings, but he is probably better known for being tougher than a Siberian winter. He has only been given the count twice in a professional career that has included two brutal wars against Paul Briggs, a systematic beating from Chad Dawson, several jelly-legged moments against Steve Cunningham, a late testing from Jason Estrada, and some heavy shots from a genuine slugger in Chris Arreola.
However, in each of these bouts he managed to ride out adversity, and invariably finishes his fights as the stronger man. His superb conditioning is such that he probably rues the day that bouts were reduced to twelve rounds.
4.Versatility: Adamek has vast experience in the amateur and professional ranks; and, like all good fighters, he is capable of altering his natural tendencies if required. He can press and push the fight and up raise the tempo as he did against Steve Cunningham, or he can slow things down and pick his shots from the outside as he did against Arreola.
Admittedly, he was second best for almost the entire fight against Dawson, but even when he was completely out-boxed, he still managed to press the better technician and almost managed a late stoppage win. If he can consistently shorten the distance between himself and either of the Kiltschkos without sustaining too much punishment, then he has an outside chance of winning.
Cons:
1. Power: Adamek possessed one punch power when he fought in lower weight classes, but it remains to be seen whether he can trouble the elite of the heavyweight division.
In David Haye’s case, there is no doubt that he has brought his power up with him from cruiserweight (the John Ruiz and Monte Barrett fights offering cases in point). Adamek, however, hasn’t been quite as forceful since moving up to heavyweight. After a straightforward knockout victory against the faded veteran Andrew Golota, he impressed against Jason Estrada and Arreola without ever looking like he would force stoppages.
Like Haye, he would be of average height and stature in other heavyweight eras (he tipped the scales at 217 pounds in his last fight), but he still looks small compared to the division’s three Eastern European Goliaths, and as such his task is made that bit more difficult.
Adamek would back himself to outbox, rather than outslug, Haye, but it is hard to see him doing a similar job to either Klitschko brother. In all likelihood, he will need to wield sufficient power to slow them down considerably in the early and middle rounds if he is to have any chance of winning.
2. Klitschkos: For all the talk about Adamek’s granite chin, he has not been in with anyone with Klitschko-esque power yet. Lest we forget, in the past couple of years, several fighters that had never previously been knocked out have failed to last 36 minutes against the metal-fisted brothers.
Kevin Johnson, Chris Arreola, and Samuel Peter had never been stopped prior to fighting Vitali Klitschko. Similarly, Eddie Chambers, Ruslan Chagaev, and Tony Thompson, had also never been stopped before fighting Wladimir.
Adamek may be capable of soaking up considerable punishment, but he won’t last the distance against either of the Kiltschkos if he doesn’t find a way of evading their metronomic jabs.
3. Wars: Adamek has taken his fair share of punishment throughout his career. It often appears that he is willing to take a shot in order to connect with two of his own. Eventually, this catches up on a fighter.
He looked hurt when he took some heavy shots against Arreola. If he takes similar shots against any of the hard-hitting heavyweights, it is hard to see him remaining standing, despite his excellent chin.
4. Preparation: Adamek faces Michael Grant on August 21 in what has been touted as a tune up for a Klitschko fight. While Grant is big and powerful, he has only fought one round of boxing since 2008, and he has far too much mileage on the clock to give Adamek a decent workout. Perhaps he is loath to jeopardize a big money match up, but Adamek would arguably be better served fighting a more wily, technically adept opponent ahead of his world title challenge.