By Jim Dower: The potential big money fight between Bernard Hopkins and International Boxing Federation cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek might not be dead after all according to Dan Rafael. Hopkins and Adamek had been in conversations for a fight recently, but failed to come to an agreement due to the money not being right for Adamek, who wanted more than what was being offered to him.
However, it looks as if Ross Greenburg, the HBO Sports president, has reportedly told ESPN that they’re looking at the fight. However, if the fight does occur it probably won’t be happening until 2010 due to budget issues.
The fight is clearly the best option for both Hopkins and Adamek, as without this fight it seems that they have fewer other choices for big money fights. In Hopkins’ case, there are few fighters worth battling in the light heavyweight division because of their lack of name recognition and popularity with boxing fans.
Chad Dawson, the IBF light heavyweight division, would seem like a decent fight for Hopkins, but Chad’s recent fights against Antonio Tarver drew few fans to the events and got low ratings. Hopkins equally doesn’t have a lot of options available at super middleweight either, because the biggest stars in the division – Lucian Bute, Mikkel Kessler and Carl Froch – are still not all that popular in the United States.
Adamek, 32, could fight a rematch with Steve Cunningham, whom he barely beat in their previous fight, or he could choose to fight someone like Marco Huck. Neither of those fights compare to the money that Adamek would get in a bout with Hopkins, though.
There’s also the question as to whether Adamek could beat Huck or Cunningham. Adamek didn’t exactly dazzle boxing fans with his win over Cunningham, showing a poor work rate for all 12 rounds. Adamek seems to live or die on his right hand power, and as soon as he meets up with an opponent that can take his power without going down, Adamek will likely lose his title.
Although he’s the current champion right now, he’s more of a case of being the flavor of the week and not someone that is considered to be a fighter that rules the cruiserweight division. This is why there was a certain amount of criticism leveled at Hopkins for choosing to fight a beatable opponent like Adamek.
The problem is that none of the fighters from the middleweight to the cruiserweight division are truly dominant right now to be considered unbeatable. Hopkins himself probably isn’t good enough to beat Dawson, the IBF light heavyweight champion, which shows that even Hopkins himself is flawed and as beatable as the other fighters in upper divisions.
As of now, Adamek is slated to defend his IBF title against his number #9 ranked opponents Matt Godfrey on July 10th. In his bout prior to that, Adamek put on an impressive performance in stopping previously unbeaten Johnathon Banks in the 8th round in February 2009.
Hopkins, 44, is coming off a 12-round unanimous decision over Kelly Pavlik in October 2008. Hopkins will be turning 45 early next year, so if Hopkins has to wait around until 2010 for fight with Adamek it’s unclear whether Hopkins would be willing to wait around this long. At his age, he can ill afford to take off so much time in between bouts without risking a loss of his aging skills.