Adamek defeats Grant, but looks horrible

By Boxing News - 08/21/2010 - Comments

Image: Adamek defeats Grant, but looks horribleBy Dan Ambrose: Heavyweight contender Tomasz Adamek (42-1, 27 KO’s) moved one step closer to getting a nice payday against one of the Klitschko brothers by defeating Michael Grant (46-4, 34 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Prudential Center, in Newark, New Jersey. This was a home fight for Adamek, and you could tell by the inflated scores that the judges gave him. Despite the fight looking very close with maybe a couple of rounds separating the two fighters, the judges scored it 117-111, 118-110 and 118-111. The scoring was pretty pathetic because Adamek didn’t dominate the fight like the scores would have you believe.

Indeed, Adamek looked to be in danger of being knocked out in the 12th round after getting hurt by one of Grant’s big right hands. Grant dominated the second half of the fight with his size and right hand. Adamek looked tired in last half of the fight, but continued to try and press the fight. Adamek was hurt in the 6th round by a big shot from Grant. In this same round, Adamek was cut over the right eye. After the cut, Adamek became much more hittable. It’s hard to say if it was the cut that did it or if Adamek just ran out of gas. Whatever the case, Adamek really struggled in the last six rounds and took a lot of punishment.

Adamek took punishment in the 8th, 9th, 10th and 12th rounds. Adamek fought well in the 11th, but his shots had no effect on the 6’7” Grant, who is used to being hit by bigger opponents than Adamek. In the 12th, Grant shook up Adamek with a solid right hand to the head. Grant tried to finish him off but didn’t have enough left in the tank to put him away.

If this was supposed to be a fight where Adamek was proving himself worthy for a title shot against one of the Klitschko brothers, I think he failed miserably. Adamek does not look ready to face the Klitschkos. For that matter, Adamek doesn’t look ready to face a number of quality heavyweights in the division. It’s good that Adamek hasn’t faced them yet, because I think he would lose badly. Since moving up to heavyweight, Adamek has faced Andrew Golota, Jason Estrada, Chris Arreola and now Michael Grant. Those are decent heavyweights, but there’s a lot better fighters in the division than them, and if Adamek is going life and death with a fighter like 38-year-old Grant, then it doesn’t bode well for the future.

Adamek will still likely get his big payday against one of the Klitschkos in the near future, but that’s all he’s going to get. He’s not going to win and will be soundly beaten and driven back into the pack. After Adamek gets beaten by one of the Klitschkos, he needs to seriously consider moving back down in weight to the cruiserweight division. Adamek doesn’t have the size or power to compete with the bigger heavyweights. He found that out on Saturday night. But it gets a lot tougher than this once Adamek starts facing better heavyweights like the Klitschkos. He doesn’t look ready, and doesn’t ever be ready.



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