(Photo Credit: Rich Graessle) By Allan Fox: IBF North American heavyweight champion Tomasz Adamek (47-2, 29 KO’s) weighed in on Friday for his fight tomorrow night against Steven Cunningham (25-4, 12 KO’s) at the Sands Casino Resort, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Adamek, 36, weighed in at a chunky 223 pounds.
Compared to the lean 203 pound Cunningham, Adamek looked kind of blocky, like he’s carrying too much weight for his small frame. Adamek has been fighting in the neighborhood of 216 pounds for most of his fights since moving up to the heavyweight division in 2009. However, the extra six pounds that Adamek has put on recently starting in March has him looking slower but without any real power gain.
Cunningham, 36, looked really in shape at 203 lbs, and even though he’s giving up 20 pounds in weight, Cunningham looked like the bigger fighter because his weight is all useful muscle rather than fat like what Adamek is carrying around.
Cunningham, a former IBF cruiserweight champion, moved up to the heavyweight division earlier this year in beating Jason Gavern by a 10 round unanimous decision last September. Cunningham didn’t look like he was hurt at all in moving up from the cruiserweight division. If anything, he was fighting more effectively than he did at cruiserweight, where he had lost his last two fights against southpaw IBF champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez.
Adamek beat Cunningham in 2008 by a 12 round split decision. It took three knockdowns for Adamek to beat him because Cunningham was getting the better of Adamek in between the knockdowns.
The extra weight that Adamek is carrying around could help him to beat Cunningham because being 20 pounds heavier than your opponent tends to be an advantage. Cunningham will be fighting for only the second time as a heavyweight and it might be too quick of a jump up in competition at this weight for him to succeed in this fight.
Official weights on the card:
Tomasz Adamek 223 – Steve Cunningham 203
Tor Hamer 221 – Vyacheslav Glasov 221.5
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