OnThEGRiND BoXiNG

Saturday April 18th, 2009
by K.M. Stansen

As a big fan of Tomasz Adamek I was personally appalled at how he was low-balled and discarded by the Hopkins camp recently, and I am of course in awe that he’s not already a huge draw. Adamek is not only for all intents and purposes the Undisputed Cruiser Weight Champion, but he also has provided fans with both sharp technical displays and epic battles. Though it’s clear as crystal that with worthless political intervals such as displayed recently, that the belts become more and more irrelevant and brand name has become God. How can one plausibly offer an Undisputed Champ half a mil, and when it’s rejected make a public statement that goes something like ‘I’m not here to give charity?” Needless to say, we saw that the ordeal ended with an intriguing bout getting axed at the negotiation table, yet again, and a great, but somewhat under looked fighter losing an opportunity to crack the top 10 P4P list and getting insulted.

Adamek came up the hard way, had to earn his worth by fighting against relatively solid competition on the European circuit and when he gained the WBC Light Heavyweight Title against the then avoided Paul Briggs, it was a barn burner fight of the year type event, that was only over shadowed by Lamon Brewster T/KOing Golota in the 1st. Adamek’s win was immediately followed up with a KO 6 over Euro vet Thomas Ulrich and set up the rematch that all fans got to see. Paul Briggs vs. Tomasz Adamek 2 was right up there with any of the recent memory battles and the type of fight that typically ruins fighters, as has been the case with Paul Briggs after it, whom if you haven’t read his book, I highly recommend it to you. Adamek then follows up like a true champion and gives a shot to the current man in the division Chad Dawson and loses a lop sided decision despite giving Dawson a knockdown scare. Suffice to say, people thought Adamek was nearing the end of the road as a top class fighter.

Tomasz Adamek did something incredible as a follow up, he jumped up 25 pounds in weight and has become for all intents and purposes the Undisputed Champion there with the best current resume of any cruiser weight. This feat provided us with a clear indication that weight draining may have been the cause of some of the light heavyweight spoils, or that he simply improved his game. He has respectively defeated former Undisputed Champion O’neil Bell via TKO, unified against a truly excellent fighter in Steve Cunningham, and recently TKO’d another contender in Jonathan Banks (just 3 months after a near fight of the year fight with Cunningham). Adamek has turned things around, he’s given us some incredible fights and he and his team don’t cause any negotiation blips that stall out and cancel intriguing matches. He deserves better than what the Hopkins camp treated him to.

Tomasz Adamek ought to have some serious negotiation powers against anyone stepping into the Cruiser division, and I believe he will have that fairly and clearly whenever he’s not set up against an old fossil that needs to hang them up.

Regards,

K.M. Stansen