by James Slater – Now that modern day legends Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Junior have apparently come to an agreement to meet in a long awaited rematch of their 1993 fight early next year (reliant on Jones beting Australia’s Danny Green in December, of course) IBF cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek has seemingly been left out in the cold when it comes to a mega fight.
Well, the Polish hero still has his fight with one-time heavyweight contender Andrew Golota to look forward to – a fight that is being referred to as a “The Polish Fight of The Century” – but the 32-year-old’s chances of ending the career of a great seem a lot slimmer now that “B-Hop” is seemingly no longer interested in fighting him..
The question is, what big fights can “Goral” look ahead to after he’s dealt with his countryman in big guy Golota?
Though the October 24th fight has been treated to its fair share of publicity, in countries other than Poland, at that, Golota’s chances of winning don’t look all that great; despite his weight advantage. “The Foul Pole” has not looked good in a long time. Knocked down and suffering a nasty-looking arm injury in his last fight, against “The Rain Man,” Ray Austin, Golota fully looked his 41 years. And before that, against Mike Mollo in January of 2008, and against Kevin McBride in October of the year before, Golota got hit plenty and was marked up (in the Mollo fight especially).
Sure, Golota showed heart in the Mollo fight, but a faster, more accurate puncher like Adamek would have beaten him. And though he is a good 30 or 40 pounds the lighter man, Adamek will do so on the 24th of this month. The fight might be interesting for a few rounds, as the challenge-challenged (!) 200-pound champ adjusts to his opponent’s poundage, but Adamek will take care of business soon enough – by my reckoning in about six or seven rounds. But what then?
Unless Adamek sees the Golota fight as a chance to test the waters in a weight class he may decide to stay at (a possibility) the man many see as the best 200-pounder in the sport will drop back down to cruiser. But who could he fight there that will result in attractive and well-paying fights?
Providing he doesn’t think a win over Golota means he is capable of handling the elite heavyweights, Adamek could try to unify the belts at cruiserweight. Former IBF champ Steve “U.S.S” Cunningham – who lost his belt to Adamek in a December 2008 thriller, and who has recently bounced back with an elimination win over Wayne Braithwaite – would be the most welcomed opponent for Adamek where the fans are concerned. And Cunningham is aching for a shot at revenge.
If this fight can be worked out, both guys will be happy. But assuming he once again beats Cunningham, who else is there for Adamek at 200-pounds? Italy’s Giacobbe Fragomeni has the WBC belt at the weight, but there would be little interest in a fight between the 40-year-old and Adamek. And while a fight between Adamek and WBA ruler Guillermo Jones could be a real battle, it’s no potential super-fight. The WBO belt is about to be decided in an intriguing fight between Marco Huck of Germany and British-born Ola Afolabi. The winner Vs. Adamek would be a decent fight for the hardcore fans, but will the IBF champ look that way?
Cunningham and possibly B.J Flores aside (who was unable to secure a sensible offer from the Adamek camp) there aren’t that many big, T/V-friendly fights out there for Adamek at cruiserweight. In fact, the more you think about it, if he does well against Golota (which he will) maybe Adamek WILL stay at heavyweight.
As interesting as a couple of his potential cruiserweight options are, Adamek – who wants to become a legend – might well look to further heavyweight opponents to fight so as to really put his name in the history books.
Adamek-Klitschko, anyone?