Tomasz Adamek: Conquering the Heavyweight Division
By Joe Wilson
Tomasz Adamek was born on December 1, 1976, in Zywiec, Poland. He was the WBC world light heavyweight champion and the former IBF, IBO and The Ring Magazine Cruiserweight Champion. As of the end of 2009, Ring Magazine has ranked Adamek as the 30th best boxer in the world. He is known for having an exceptionally “sturdy chin.”
Adamek began his boxing career at age 12 years old in club G’oral Zyweic with his trainers Stefan Gawron and Stanistaw Orlicki. He made his professional boxing debut on March 13, 1999, at Bowlers Arenac in Manchester against Israel Khumalo. He won by TKO in the first round.
Adamek won the vacant WBC Light Heavyweight Title defeating Paul “Firepower” Briggs by majority decision on the May 21, 2005. The fight was described from some as being the most brutal fight in recent memory. Adamek suffered a broken nose enduring it throughout most of the fight, and Biggs fought with a cut above the left eye for nearly the entire fight. This fight was a pure slugfest.
On October 15, 2005, he defended his title against German Boxer, Thomas Ulrich by knockout in round six. He defended his title once again with a rematch against Paul Biggs in 2006. He won again by majority decision. After that fight, HBO boxing analyst Jim Lampley said of Adamek vs. Briggs, that the combined 24 rounds of those two fights was the best he had witnessed in his entire career as a boxing analyst.
Undefeated, Adamek lost his first fight to Chad Dawson on February 3, 2007. During that fight, Adamek was knocked down in the seventh round. This was the second time in his entire career, he had been knocked down. After a slow motion replay of that knockdown, it clearly showed Adamek being tripped. Adamek knocked Dawson down during the fight, but could not knock him out.
After the loss of Dawson, Adamek moved up to cruiserweight to beat Luis Andres Pineda by technical knockout in 7 rounds to win the IBO Cruiserweight Title. He then successfully defended his title against Josip Jalusic on December 29, 2007 in Germany.
On April 19, 2008 in Poland, Adamek fought former undisputed O’Neil Bell in an IBF Cruiserweight Title Eliminator fight. Adamek put Bell down in round one. He also out-boxed him throughout eight rounds. Bell would not come out of his corner for round nine; he claimed he was too dizzy and ill to continue.
In December of 2008, he fought the reigning champ, Steve Cunningham at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. He knocked Cunningham down three times, and won the IBF Cruiserweight Championship and the vacant Ring Magazine championship title. That bout could have easily been proclaimed “Fight of the Year Award.”
Later, Adamek successfully defended his title against Jonathon Banks on February 27, 2009, at Prudential Center in Newark. He won with a brutal TKO in round eight. He then went to meet Bobby Gunn before a large crowd at Prudential Center on July 11, 2009, with a referee stoppage between rounds four and five.
Adamek vacated his IBF Cruiserweight Championship on October 18, 2009, to pursue the heavyweight division. His move up in size has worked out very well. On October 24, 2009, in Lodz, Poland, Adamek defeated former Heavyweight title challenger, Andrew Golota by TKO in the fifth round to win the IBF International Heavyweight Title. It was the biggest live broadcast in the history Polish Internet.
Afterwards, before a crowd of over 10,000 mostly his Polish Americans fans at the Prudential Center, Adamek defeated Jason Estrada in a twelve round decision.
Adamek 40-1, 27 KO’s, then took on heavyweight contender Chris Arreola 28-1, 25 KO’s, on April 24, 2010. This fight took place at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California. The bout televised by HBO’s Boxing After Dark. That fight had a good buzz surrounding it.
With the absence of good Heavyweight fights over the last few years, adding Adamek to that division is definitely a plus. He fights with vigor and packs power in both hands. The early part of Adamek vs. Arreola, the fight was controlled by Arreola. It was the last half of the fight that Adamek took over and made Arreola look lethargic. Arreola weighed 250 pounds the night before the fight and Adamek weighed 217. Adamek won this fight after twelve rounds of sticking and moving. He busted up his opponent pretty bad.
Adamek then took on former heavyweight title challenger, Michael Grant in August 2010 and would win by unanimous decision. He had the bigger man waiting on him. His speed was very good and punches were very accurate. Adamek later took on American boxer Vinny Maddalone and defeated him in five rounds by TKO.
The Heavyweight division has three major components; the two Klitschko’s and David Haye. Maybe we can add Evander Holyfield based on his next performance. The presence of Tomasz Adamek brings an angle to that division of three maybe four, that it hasn’t experienced of late. Having him join those fighters is definitely a plus.