By Dan Ambrose: Photo Credits – Mike Gladysz – Former two division world champion Tomasz Adamek may not have the size, the reach or the power to beat WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, but Adamek thinks he’s got the motor to win their fight on Saturday night in Poland. Adamek, 34, is saying he’s going to beat Vitali by setting a fast pace and wearing him down.

“My pace is going to kill him, it’s as simple as that,” Adamek said. “If you are slow, he is going to hit you, but if you are fast, then afterwards he won’t know where he is.”

The problem here is Adamek isn’t very fast. He moves around the ring kind of fast, but his handspeed is pretty average. Adamek is no David Haye in the speed department. He’s more of a typical heavyweight in that department, only without the size of the bigger heavyweights that dominate the division right now. At 215 lbs, Adamek’s lack of size is going to be a problem for him because he’ll be giving up over 30 pounds. Being quicker than a fighter a lot bigger than you can help, but only if you can stand in front of them long enough to throw punches. Adamek will have to be able to fight Vitali, because he won’t be a champion by throwing a jab to the midsection, which is Adamek’s favorite punch against the bigger heavyweights he’s faced, and then run away like it’s a game of tag.

That may work against fighters that just there like statues, such as Michael Grant and Kevin McBride, two of Adamek’s slow 2nd tier heavyweights he beat to get this fight. But Vitali is so much better than those guys. There’s really no comparison to the awful opposition Adamek has faced to get this money fight against Vitali.

Adamek has really short changed himself by facing weak opposition to get to where he is now. Maybe he didn’t want to blow his fight with Vitali, and that’s why Adamek has been facing pretty much weak old fighters since last year. Whatever the reason, he’s going to be in for a shock on Saturday against Vitali, because this isn’t another 2nd tier fighter for Adamek to pad his resume with. Vitali is the real thing, and he’s probably going to give Adamek a terrible beating in this fight. The only fast pace Adamek can set is by running, but that’s not going to help win this fight. It’ll just make him look silly in front of his Polish fans.