By Jim Dower: Former two division world champion Tomasz Adamek (42-1, 27 KO’s) continues with his easy path to getting a title fight by taking on 36-year-old 2nd tier heavyweight Vinny Maddalone (33-6, 24 KO’s) on Thursday night at the Prudential Center, in Newark, New Jersey. The fight is scheduled for 12 rounds, but it’s not likely to be very competitive. Adamek is a lot better than Maddalone. However, it’s disappointing that Adamek is facing 2nd tier heavyweights on his way to get a title shot against one of the Klitschko brothers or David Haye.
It would have been more interesting if Adamek had bucked the trend for heavyweight contenders to take on soft touches in their path to a heavyweight title shot. In Adamek’s last fight, he struggled to beat 38-year-old Michael Grant in August. Adamek won the fight by a 12 round decision but was staggered a couple of times by Grant, who basically threw only a handful of punches during the entire fight. It was like Adamek was fighting a statue for 12 rounds, and yet when Grant did throw a tiny amount of shots, he had Adamek wobbling. That’s not a good sign if you were hoping that Adamek would have a chance against Haye or one of the Klitschkos.
Adamek should beat Maddalone without too many problems on Thursday, but that’s not really saying a whole lot. Maddalone has already been beaten by Brian Minto, an old Evander Holyfield, Denis Boytsov and Jean Marc Mormeck. If Adamek can’t beat this guy too then he really needs to lose some weight and go back down to cruiserweight.
Adamek will likely end up facing WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko next year and get knocked out. Adamek will probably stick around the division and try to get other title shots, but it’s doubtful he’ll ever actually win a title unless he keeps fighting beyond Vitali’s retirement. In that case, Adamek might win a title and be a paper champion for awhile until he fights a unification bout against Wladimir or Haye and then gets knocked out again.
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