Adamek Stops Gunn in Newark

I knew I was in Newark but with all the red and white flags waving around me, it felt like I was in a soccer world cup match in Warsaw. The Prudential Center or commonly called here as “The Rock” was virtually Poland Saturday night. There were at least half of the roughly 7,000 deafening crowd behind the IBF and Ring magazine Cruiserweight champion, Tomasz Adamek. Adamek did not disappoint them. Poland’s best active pugilist successfully defended his titles with stifling jabs and effective overhand rights as Hackensack native Bobby Gunn was overmatched and outgunned (pardon the pun) from the start. Kevlars were not necessary after all.

Adamek dominated from the opening bell with only a couple of instances where Gunn held his own and managed to fight back. The coup de grâce happened at the end of the fourth. Adamek unloaded a flurry of unanswered punches that wobbled Gunn on his way back to his corner. Referee Earl Brown ended the fight at the advice of the ringside physician before the start of the fifth. Gunn took a significant amount of damaging head shots justifying the stoppage. I predicted the fight to end just before the fourth and almost nailed it. Gunn was obviously not in the same league as Adamek both in skills and in crowd support despite Hackensack’s proximity to Newark. Hackensack is only 15 miles from Newark.

This is Adamek’s third straight fight at the home of the New Jersey Devils. He dethroned former IBF titlist Steve Cunningham via split decision last December in what was a fight of the year candidate. Then, five months ago, he stopped Johnathon Banks in the eighth round.

Gunn’s only significant name in his resume is Enzo Maccarinelli. The Welsh stopped him in the first stanza two years ago. Other than that, there’s not much to speak of. He has an impressive 86% knockouts to win ratio but they were against mediocre opponents.

The night started with the junior middleweights. Delen Parsley (1-0, 1 KO) of Brooklyn, NY in his pro debut dropped Camden, New Jersey’s Tyrone Miles (1-1) in the fourth round with a right hook to the midsection.

Denis Douglin (5-0, 3 KOs) of Morganville, New Jersey survived a first round knockdown and won via unanimous decision over Lamar Harris (6-2-1, 4 KOs) of St. Louis, Missouri.

Martial arts instructor Ran Nakash (13-0, 9 KOs) of Haifa, Israel was too much for Chesapeake, Virginia’s William Bailey (10-17, 5KOs). Bailey’s corner threw in the towel as Nakash was pounding Bailey in the fourth. Nakash is Israel’s heavyweight and cruiserweight champion.

Welterweights Henry Crawford (22-0-1, 9 KOs) of nearby Paterson and Kaseem Wilson (12-2-1, 4 KOs) of Philadelphia went the full yet uneventful 8 rounds with a Crawford wide decision win. This was the only lackluster fight of the evening.

The fifth bout was the start of the internet covered broadcast. The Polish combatants didn’t start well as super middleweight Piotr Wilczewski (22-1, 7 KOs) of Roztocznik was stopped by Brownsville, New York’s Curtis Stevens (21-2, 15 KOs). A crunching left hook in the third knocked Wilczewski down then took the full 8 count. A barrage of unanswered shots prompted the referee to stop the beating. That calmed down the “Polska! Polska!” cheer for awhile until Stevens had to exchange words with the obviously predominant Polish crowd. With such an excellent performance, he could’ve taken the high road.

In the main undercard, promising cruiserweight Mateusz Masternak (14-0, 9 KOs) of Wroclaw, Poland stopped Brooklyn’s Naser Mohamed Aly (4-4, 2 KOs). Aly’s corner prevented further damage at 2:36 of the fifth.

Before the start of the main event, a 10-count and a moment of silence were observed in the memory of the late greats Alexis Arguello and, shockingly to most of the fight fans in the arena, Arturo Gatti. May their souls rest in peace.