The FJ Fury 03.03.10: Adamek's Ticket to the Hall of Fame

Posted by FJ Parlan on 03.03.2010

With the Tomasz Adamek-Chris Arreola fight signed, sealed, and sure to deliver, 411's FJ Parlan says how and why the Polish pride may have a chance to go into Canastota someday.


Tomasz Adamek could box his way to the Hall of Fame with a heavyweight title.

Tomasz Adamek is one of my favorite boxers. I rate him about top twenty pound-for-pound. He is a very exciting fighter, one of the most exciting today, in fact. Yet, many casual fans haven't seen him or haven't even heard of him.

With his decision to be a heavyweight fighter, more fans will have more chances to.

It makes perfect sense. Exciting fighters like Adamek are supposed to be known, yet he still needs exposure. The heavyweight division is supposed to be the sport's glamour division, yet it still needs exposure today.

Fans feel that the current heavyweight class is missing a certain important element, and Adamek has it. Yes, you guessed it right: excitement.

Meanwhile, Adamek could gain an expanded following, particularly in the united States, where heavyweight boxing is even more downtrodden, beyond his adopted hometown of Newark, NJ. Boxing's chief division, as stale as it is right now, still gets followed, if only because fans are looking for its salvation or something.

In any case, it naturally gets more attention than Adamek's former weight class-- the cruiserweight division. There's a reason that Adamek is the second in such a short span to leave that class after having been a champion of it (the other is David Haye, who now holds a heavyweight title). The cruiserweights is perhaps the least-popular boxing division. Boxers who make a career in it ends up having a career ran under the radar. If cruiserweights want popularity, they should look up, then move up. Success in that pattern is far from ensured, though. Evander Holyfield is probably the only fighter to make a name doing so.

Bu that's what Adamek is attempting to do. He officially vacated the Ring cruiserweight title to announce his arrival as a full-fledged heavyweight.

The way he fights, Adamek can capture fight fans' imagination no matter where. While the division still gets massive assiduity in Europe, Adamek's continent, if American fans still don't get pumped for the heavyweights if Adamek rolls there, then it's further affirmation of the obvious problem-- no American heavyweight champion. Adamek is already big in Poland, obviously, but will be bigger in Europe now that he's a heavyweight and as he becomes a contender.

So, like said, the heavyweight division needs someone like Adamek, and as it looks, Adamek also needs the heavyweight division. The move could be mutually beneficial.

Besides popularity and money, Adamek could gain a little more from this for his career than he may be realizing. He could actually have a chance to be a hall of famer when it's all said and done.

He's already the best fighter Poland has ever produced. In his first fight as a heavyweight, he defeated the most famous/infamous one his country has produced. In the fight dubbed the Polish "Fight of the Century", he outclassed, stopped, and retired a 41-year old Andrew Golota for good.

He started his career as a light heavyweight and completed 28 wins in 28 fights before landing a title fight versus Australia's "Hurricane" Paul Briggs. It was a barnburner. It was controversial, but this was the first time that Adamek showed the world what he was about. He was practically fighting journeymen and/or bums up to that point. He defended that WBC title once against the German Thomas Ulrich before he and Briggs are at it again. Those who saw his fights with Briggs liked what they saw, as even veteran blow-by-blow HBO commentator Jim Lampley referred to it as the best combined 24 rounds he has seen. Adamek again escaped with a decision.

He dropped that title in his next fight, his only lost, against talented American Chad Dawson. While routed on the scorecards, Adamek was still able to give his opponent a scare by knocking him down late in the fight. After the loss, he stepped up to the 200 pound limit. Then after a few fights that included a TKO win against O'Neil Bell, the former three-title unified and lineal cruiserweight champ, he got his first chance at a title with Steve Cunningham. In typical fashion, he waged war that deserved candidacy for fight of the year award and his victory gave him his most significant accomplishment. He became the cruiserweight champion of the world, holding the Ring title along with the IBF belt. He took the "O" off Jonathon Banks record in his next fight and his next fight proved to be the last one he had at cruiserweight.

Now, he brings a pretty solid resumé and a solid fighter to the heavyweight ranks. At 33, Adamek (40-1, 27 KOs) still has a chance to make a name for himself. Standing at six-foot-one and a half, he has formidable power and speed. He has a tendency to brawl, but he's a well-rounded boxer. He fights young and he is very brave.

There are concerns. His second bout at heavyweight, against Jason Estrada, brought up some. Adamek has been knocked down a couple of times in his career but he also has a decent chin. That chin got tagged several times by someone who's regarded as a light-puncher in the heavyweights. The pertinent question is whether he could carry his attributes well into the 200-plus pound range.

Adamek took a risk when he stepped into this territory, and his next fight is a sign of that risk. In Cristobal "The Nightmare" Arreola (28-1, 25 KOs), he will face a much-bigger puncher and simply a much-bigger fighter than he ever had. A loss would eliminate him from immediate title contention and his heavyweight title dreams could turn out into a nightmare at the hands of the burrito-munching and Corona-guzzling Mexican-American.

I'm sure it'll be a great war. One that the heavyweight division hasn't had in what seems to be ages. But I suspect Adamek could win it, despite on-lookers counting him out. Observer's raise the point that if Estrada was able to hurt Adamek, how would Adamek react to the power of Arreola. But while Adamek's chin might be called "granite" by some, it isn't so much just that. The guy's punch resistance is amazing. He gets staggered at times but that doesn't lead to him going down. He refuses to go down. I think Adamek can defeat Arreola. If his skills can't find a way, his heart will. Don't pay attention to those saying that he's just a blown-up light heavyweight. Arreola weighed more than 260-pounds in his last fight and so those people say that the size difference renders Adamek overmatched. Adamek weighed a compact muscular 220 1/2 lbs. in his last fight. The legit query would be if he's approaching it the wrong way because he could lessen his speed that way. But saying that an undisciplined overweight fighter easily defeats Adamek is unacceptable for me. If Arreola comes in shape, I still see it as a pretty even match-up which Adamek could win.

If he does, not only is he open for more big money fights (isn't Haye-Adamek at worse just as exciting a prospective match-up?). Yes, he has a chance to earn a right to knock the doors of Canastota.

Hear me out. If he wins a world title, possibly by defeating Haye or whoever, he would have won a title in three different weight classes. That alone is a significant feat. I know how Manny Pacquiao's record seems to belittle an achievement like this, but Adamek would have won titles at light heavyweight, cruiserweight, and heavyweight! Who else has even ever done that? The span of weight would be even more than the Pac-Man has won titles within! That would be extremely hard to ignore.

Keep in mind that he was the lineal cruiserweight champion, and who's to say that he won't win the world heavyweight championship, too? When Vitali Klitschko retires, as he says after the end of this year, Adamek's chances (and frankly, everyone else's) chances effectively increase.

If Adamek gets derailed on April 24 in Ontario, CA, we'll be sure he's at least going to lose fighting. We should just thank him for just trying, especially because he knows what we, the fans, want.

Enjoy Tomasz Adamek from now on, while we still can. I told you, his move to the heavyweights is beneficial... For us.



Crashing Right Hooks:

- I mentioned in this article how the cruiserweights don't get attention. But they deserve your attention, as my 411 colleagues Igor Frank and Matt Knowles prove in this week's 411Mania Boxing Fact or Fiction put perfectly (read question number 6).

- Puerto Rico showcased their boxing talents on a card held at their local ground last weekend. It included a pair of twins with succesful amateur careers (McJoe and McWilliams Arroyo), on their debuts, a six-foot-six cruiserweight who looks like a basketball player (Carlos Negron), and a son of a Puerto Rican boxing legend (Wilfredo Vazquez, Jr.)... Oh, all won, in dominating fashion.

- Vazquez's father won titles at bantamweight, super bantamweight, and featherweight. Now, he holds one at super bantamweight. There are two many "legend's son" running around in boxing today, Chavezes, Camachos, Hearns, Foremans... but Vazquez, Jr. might be the best son of a boxing champion among them.

- Some have suggested that Marvin Sonsona is the next Pacquiao. As prodigious as he is, he's not. He tried to pull what Pacquiao pulled against another Puerto Rican in Miguel Cotto when he stood in the ropes a couple of times to allow his opponent to attack so that he could see openings to counter. He got knocked out with a body punch instead. Now he has really copied Pacquiao, getting knocked out with a body punch as a teenager. Sonsona is a good talent but like I said in a past article, he's getting moved a little too fast. That two-weight class jump is an example.

- For those who watched that "PR Best Boxing" card, anyone who noticed the exaggerated opponent of McJoe Arroyo? The knocout to Giovanni Rivera looked as if it's worse than the one that the opponent of McJoe's brother, McWilliams, suffered earlier (an oxygen mask was needed after his opponent, Elicier Sanchez, went unconscious for minutes). After the referee stopped the bout, Rivera immediately stood up after looking lost for a split second. Bizaare over-acting.

- If anybody among you saw the ridiculous stoppage to the Vivian Harris-Lucas Matthyse fight, another one came our way this weekend. It was even worse, because lightweights Daniel Estrada and Angel Alirio Rivero are in a "thrilling war" coming down to the wire when the referee abruptly ended it in the 10th and final round. Estrada was awarded a TKO victory instead of having the two fighters end it like they deserve. The suggestion is to find the fight, I know I will. But damn, not only judges, you also now have to worry about referees?

- I read this bit (literally) on ESPN boxing titled "The Substitute", it's about Joshua Clottey winning boxing's lottery by landing a date against Pacquiao, but I don't have an "insider" account on that site, so I wasn't able to see the whole article. It's nice and funny if you read it, but if anyone among you is an ESPN.com insider, or if you have a March 8 issue of ESPN the magazine, please tell me how it ends. Lol. Thanks.

- Quote of the week: "I am fighting for the fans. Without fans, there is no point in going into the ring." See, I told you, Adamek knows what the fans want.

- Runner-up quote of the week: "I don't like to fight... I love to fight!" Said Arreola, on the same press conference for their fight.

- By the way, I think I might go with this "quote of the week" thingy. In the last edition of the FJ Fury, I put up a fan quote to begin with, as opposed to this week. What I'm going to try to do is find a quote from both such sources, or either. The comments to my articles are going to be my first source for one, and I hope it engages you readers and boxing fans to convey your best thoughts in the best way you could. So, for more fun, comment wisely (and introduce yourself nicely), it might be next week's fan quote of the week. =)

- Share more quotes (from you or boxing people) and stuff via my Facebook and Twitter. Hit me up! See you there!