Adamek Tops Grant in Jersey

Posted by Jonathan Yaghoubi on 08.22.2010

An action packed fight at the Prudential Center.

Heavyweight contender Tomasz Adamek is slowly rising up the heavyweight title ladder and may have finally reached the top of said ladder. The cruiserweight world champion-turned heavyweight won a tough fought twelve round unanimous decision over 6'7 challenger Michael Grant (46-4, 34 KOs) on Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

Adamek won on all three judges' cards. Judge Henry Grant had it 118-110, John Poturaj had it 118-111 and Robert Grasso scored it 117-111. With the win, Adamek improved to 42-1 overall and has now won all five fights at the heavyweight division.

"I was ready for a tough fight and ready to go 12 rounds," Adamek said. "I was prepared very well for the fight. I am upset because for the first time in my career, I got cut and I'm not happy about that, but I'm happy about the win."

Grant, who had not lost since being knocked out by Dominick Guinn in 2003, gave Adamek a tough battle but it was not enough to for the upset. The loss drops his record to 46-4.

The crowd support was overwhelming for Adamek as most of the 10,000 fans came to cheer their native hero. Adamek, who is a native of Poland, had the fans cheered wildly and waved red and white Polish flags in support, rhythmically chanting Adamek's name and "Polska! Polska!"

Grant came out of the first round very tentative and Adamek took advantage of that by landing some clean shots in round one. It was not until the end of the round that Adamek scored with a late flurry in the closing seconds of the round as both boxers clinched each other and fell to the ground together.

"I don't know what happened there," Grant said. "I thought I hit him good, then we both went down and the bell rang. It seemed like any time I did anything to hurt him, the bell would ring. The only thing that Adamek had on me was speed. He was moving in and out. I knew that beforehand that it would be difficult to face him. He sustained and endured. He was on that bicycle and I had a tough time trying to keep up with him."

In the second round, Adamek scored one of his best punches of the fight as he landed a vicious left hook to end the round.

"I definitely didn't expect that left hook," Grant said.

Adamek certainly out-boxed Grant over the next few rounds until Round 6. Grant would have his best shot to win the fight during the round. He seemed to stun Adamek in the closing seconds of the round with a stiff right, causing the Polish to buckle down to his knees and opening a cut over his right eye.

"I thought I could get him," Grant said. "But he's a tough guy."

Grant followed his strong end to the sixth round by keeping his aggression on in the 7th round. However, Adamek gained his second wind and was able to hold off Grant with some left hands that kept Grant off him.

Grant hammered Adamek again at the end of the ninth round. Round ten could have gone either way as Adamek rallied. A rejuvenated Adamek clearly out-boxed Grant in round eleven.

The 12th round got interesting as a desperate Grant hurt Adamek a few times with some over hand rights and threw in some body shots. However, Adamek would not go down and survive the onslaught.

"Every time I tried to pull the trigger, that little mouse kept slipping away" Grant said. "If I had done in the fifth round what I did in the last round, it would have been a completely different story."

With the win, Adamek could be line for a big fight with David Haye but it could be a little too soon to fight one of the Klitschko brothers.

"This was a very big test for me," Adamek said. "I need to rest now for about three weeks, and then I'll go back into the gym."