Tomasz Adamek punches toward a Klitschko showdown

Tomasz Adamek may be a small heavyweight, but since moving into the division, he's been busy beating down much bigger men.

On August 21st , he scored an impressive UD victory over his largest opponent to date. Adamek (42-1, 27 KOs), who stands 6 feet, 1-1/2 inches tall, weighed in a full 44 lbs lighter than 6' 7”, 261 lb Michael Grant (46-4, 34 KOs). Although he did find himself in trouble in the last round following some solid punches from his towering foe, Adamek's boxing skills proved to be too much for Grant to contend with for most of the fight.

To his credit, since the beginning of his foray into the heavyweight division, he has chosen the toughest opposition available to him. In his previous 3 fights, he squared off against Andrew Golota (41-8-1, 33 KOs), Jason Estrada (16-3, 4 KOs) and Chris Arreola (29-2, 25 KOs), respectively.

In a recent interview with Brad Cooney of 8CN, Adamek was asked if he chose to face Michael Grant to prepare for the Klitschkos.

“Yes. This is why we took a taller opponent like Michael Grant,” Adamek said. “We are very close to a title fight, and Grant was a good test. We are close to this title shot, maybe next year. I need an opponent like Michael Grant.”

IBF, WBO and IBO champion Wladimir Klitschko (54-3, 48 KOs) has a rematch scheduled against Samuel Peter (34-3, 27 KOs) on September 11th. The first match between the two took place in 2005 and resulted in a UD in favor of Klitschko. Peter also fought Vitali in 2008 and lost by RTD in Rnd. 8.

Vitali Klitschko (40-2, 38 KOs) will defend his WBC belt against former world champion Shannon Briggs (51-5-1, 45 KOs) on October 16th.

Adamek told Brad Cooney that he plans to fight once more in the latter months of this year. He then hopes for a title fight within the first six months of 2011.

The “little” heavyweight has proven that he's not one to be underestimated on the basis of his smaller stature. It would be interesting to see how well he would fare against either of the Klitschkos, or WBA champion David Haye.


Contact Lorne: lscoggins@8countnews.com