Michael Grant Vs Tomasz Adamek: The Big Risk this Weekend
By Geno McGahee
(Primetime is the exclusive UK
Channel screening this fight for the British fans)
This is really one of those crossroads fight. We have one man on the verge of a title shot in former light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion, Tomasz Adamek, 40-1, 27 KO’s, taking on former top contender and title challenger Michael Grant, 46-3, 34 KO’s, in a 12 round WBO NABO Heavyweight Title match.
Adamek is everyone’s early pick to stop the 38 year old giant, and when you consider that Grant is not known for a great chin, most are picking an early stoppage. Most boxing fans have not seen Grant since his last appearance on HBO, a stoppage loss to Dominick Guinn in 2003. Since then, he has gone 8-0, 5 KO’s, but the opposition has been less than spectacular.
When looking at the opponents Grant has faced since Guinn, compiling their records, you get a collective record of 123-53-6, a winning percentage of 67%, and many of those with winning records were heavily padded with lifelong losers as opponents. A good example is Kevin Montiy, a fighter that brought in a record against Grant of 17-3-1, a good record but upon close examination, his opponents’ collective record of the 17 opponents he defeated was 116-167-6, bringing in a pathetic 40% winning average. The fact that Grant has feasted on guys like Montiy over the course of the last 7 years is a big check against him going into Saturday’s fight.
Adamek on the other hand, has faced tough opposition with proven track records. He just recently defeated one of the top heavyweights in the game, Chris Arreola, by unanimous decision. He has beaten fellow contender Jason Estrada (UD-12), Jonathan Banks (KO-8), and destroyed former title challenger Andrew Golota (KO-5). He has not ducked anyone and now prepares for a Klitschko challenge by taking on a man of equal size in Grant.
Grant has said in previews leading up to this fight that “Adamek will run,” and that is a safe bet. Adamek moves and sometimes he will move excessively as he did with O’Neil Bell, a fight he eventually won by stoppage in 2008. Adamek is versatile and will mix movement with aggression and I believe that we will see that applied in his fight with Grant. He is going to try to make Grant reach in and make him pay for it. What bodes well for Grant is that Adamek can stand at just the wrong distance at times and pay for it. He has been dropped on a couple of occasions and has been rocked. Arreola grazed him a few times and he did show signs of being hurt, but to his credit, he rebounded and beat the Mexican heavyweight clearly.
Michael Grant’s chin has been a big problem throughout his career. He was dropped by Andrew Golota on two occasions, but arose and stopped “The Foul Pole” late in the fight. He would get stopped by Lennox Lewis in 2 rounds, Jameel McCline would drop him in the opening seconds of their bout, leading to a 1st round TKO, due mostly to an injured ankle from the fall, and Dominick Guinn pummeled him to the floor.
The question going into this fight is: What does Michael Grant have left? His 8 wins in a row seem promising and with his size and powerful right hand, he looks like a legitimate threat to derail Adamek’s climb to the title, but going from 8 top 50 heavyweights to a top 5 heavyweight is a large jump.
This is similar to Ray Mercer’s bout with Wladimir Klitschko. Highlight reel footage of Mercer knocking out his opponents and them flopping out of the ring and to the floor made the news telecasts. He looked sharp and was on a winning streak before he ran into Klitschko, who was fighting top level opposition. Mercer was dropped in the first round and badly beaten until the referee saved him.
Grant may have a hard time finding the mark with a moving opponent and may not be ready to take a shot from a legitimate puncher like Adamek with pin point accuracy. The most likely scenario is that the bigger man will lunge and be countered and he’ll be dropped and stopped shortly thereafter, but there is another scenario…
Adamek has never faced a man as large as Grant. His trip to the 200+ pound division has put him into the ring with a shot Golota, a light-hitting Estrada, and a brawler in Arreola. Grant is the biggest puncher he has faced thus far, is highly motivated, and has a right hand that can knock out any heavyweight and is overly dangerous for a guy like Adamek, a smaller man moving up.
Despite Grant’s time off the big time radar, this is a very interesting fight and will either solidify Adamek as a genuine threat to the Klitschkos or expose him as a small man not equipped to battle in the heavyweight division. Grant will come into the bout in shape and prepared with a game plan. He has a good jab and incredible power, but at 38, has father time caught up with him and will his chin betray him again? The questions will be answered when the two go into battle this Saturday night.
The fight is the main event on a pay per view card that has a less than remarkable undercard. Joel Julio, 35-4, 31 KO’s, takes on Jamaal Davis, 12-6, 6 KO’s, in a ten round bout, and an eight round bout with welterweight Sadam Ali, 8-0, 4 KO’s, taking on Lenin Arroyo, 20-12-1, 4 KO’s. The price tag for this PPV is significantly less than most, which may make the card worth a rent. Hopefully the production value is better than the Evander Holyfield-Frans Botha PPV that I purchased.