By Jason Kim: Heavyweight contender Tomasz Adamek (40-1, 27 KO’s) did what he had to do in defeating 2nd tier heavyweight Jason Estrada (16-3, 4 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Prudential Center, in Newark, New Jersey. Adamek, 33, looked good for the most part, landing fast combinations and then moving out of the way of Estrada to avoid getting hit by his counter shots. Adamek threw a lot of punches and moved like constantly around the ring. He looked more like a cruiserweight than a heavyweight with his constantly circling of the ring.

The only criticism I can see From Adamek’s performance is his lack of punching power. His punches had no effect on Estrada, and they didn’t look powerful in comparisons to other top heavyweights in the division. Adamek is ranked #9 International Boxing Federation, #10 WBA and #11 WBC. This means that Adamek could be getting a title shot against one of the heavyweight champions in the near future if he can keep winning.

There’s talk of Adamek fighting heavyweight contender Chris Arreola in April. I can see Adamek winning that fight, but it will be a very tough fight for Adamek, because Arreola punches much harder than Estrada. There were times on Saturday night that Estrada landed some heavy right hands that Adamek didn’t look comfortable with. Estrada landed a huge right hand in the 9th and then another big right hand in the 10th that seemed to get Adamek’s attention.

Adamek responded well to the shots by moving and clinching, but he looked a little bothered by the shots. Arreola will be landing much harder shots all night long, and even if Adamek moves continuously like he did against Estrada, he won’t be able to escape Arreola’s power shots. In a lot of ways, Estrada was the perfect opponent for Adamek.

At only 6’1”, the weak-punching Estrada didn’t have the size or the power to really put Adamek in any kind of danger. The 6’4” 250 pound Arreola does. He hits much harder than Estrada and is a lot bigger than him as well. Adamek, who despite his 220 frame, still looked small for a heavyweight, could end up being another Brian Minto-type opponent for Arreola to toy with. In December, Arreola faced the 218 pound Minto, who has power and a fighting style similar to Adamek.

Minto was able to give Arreola some early problems with his aggressiveness and faster combinations. However, without the power to slow Arreola down, he continued to pursue Minto around the ring and finally hurt him with some huge right uppercuts that put Minto down for the count in the 4th. Adamek is basically about the same size as Minto and probably has even less power.

I just don’t see how Adamek would be able to stop Arreola from running him down. Adamek could run all night long, but Arreola will win the rounds because of his bone jarring shots. It won’t matter if Adamek is landing more often, if Arreola is landing crushing right hands every so often, he’ll win the rounds and eventually I think he’ll bust Adamek up and stop him.