When Tomasz Adamek made the leap from cruiserweight to heavyweight in 2009, a lot of people believed it was a foolish and ill-conceived move. But the native of Poland, who once lived in Jersey City and still trains there, had only one thing in mind.
“When I moved to heavyweight, my dream was to get to fight for the heavyweight championship,” Adamek said. “Now I’ve made it. I’ll get that chance. I want that chance. This is my chance and I’m ready.”
Top heavyweight contender Adamek continued on his path toward a championship showdown with one of the Klitschko brothers by defeating Kevin McBride via a lopsided unanimous 12-round decision last Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark.
Adamek had a tentative deal in place to face either Vitaly or Vladimir Klitschko for either of their heavyweight championship titles some time in September in Poland, but needed to defeat McBride first to seal the deal.
Adamek (44-1 with 28 knockouts) dominated from the outset, using his speed to outscore and out-punch his opponent, winning every round on all three judges’ scorecards.
“This was a very good test,” said Adamek, who at 215 pounds, weighed 70 pounds less than his opponent. “Every round in the ring is a good test for me. It’s like gold. I hit him hard, but I just needed to stay quick. To me, speed is power.”
McBride (35-9-1), a native of Ireland who now resides in Massachusetts and who sent former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson into retirement in 2005, appeared out of shape and was sloppy for the entire fight, resorting to tactics like pushing Adamek’s head down, throwing rabbit punches and even stepping on Adamek’s foot in the 11th round.
McBride was only competitive in the sixth round. The rest of the fight belonged to Adamek.
“Tomasz proved to me that he was a warrior,” said McBride, who after the fight announced that he would more than likely retire from boxing. “He was hard to catch. I thought I could catch him later on, but I couldn’t get him. I wish I had another 12 rounds and maybe I could have caught him. Maybe if I lost 20 more pounds, I could have caught him. Speed kills and he has a lot of speed. I respect the man. I knew I was being hit.”
When McBride was asked about some of his tactics in the ring, he replied, “Well, at least I didn’t try to bite him,’’ referring to his biggest conquest, Tyson.
“He kept holding me and pushing my head,” Adamek said. “I kept looking at the referee [Randy Neumann] asking what was he [McBride] doing. I never get upset in the ring about things like that. It didn’t bother me.”
By the sixth round, the atmosphere inside the Prudential Center best resembled a rock concert. There were the chants of “A-DA-MEK, A-DA-MEK,” and “Polska, Polska,” from the crowd of 7.653, which was heavily pro-Adamek. In between rounds, there were popular Polish tunes blaring from the public address system, which caused the crowd to sing, dance and wave Polish banners and scarves. There was definitely more action in the stands than in the ring. But the Polish fight fans were having a good old time.
Adamek also has a good time in the Prudential Center. This was the seventh time he’s fought in “The Rock,” winning all seven. He’s also now 6-0 as a heavyweight.
“I tried to put on a good show,” Adamek said. “But Kevin held me all night. He held my head down. I think he hit me one time [in the sixth round]. I respect my opponents. Sometimes, I can’t finish them early, but I’m ready for 12 rounds every time.”
Adamek’s trainer Roger Bloodworth thought that the fight was a good tune-up.
“Tomasz executed this fight perfectly,” Bloodworth said. “I thought he put on a perfect show. But this was for Kevin McBride. We’ll have some work to do before September.”
Bloodworth said that Adamek will take a little break from training, then hit the gym again before beginning a rigorous training camp for the fight of his lifetime.
“This is my chance,” Adamek said. “It’s what I’ve always wanted.”…
On the Adamek-McBride undercard, Jersey City resident Jose Peralta, trained by Jersey City’s Mike Skowronski and managed by Union City’s Pat Lynch, won by a convincing third round knockout of Ever Perez in a light welterweight bout. Peralta will get back into the ring May 20 at the Prudential Center…
The Snyder boys’ track team is already making noise in the early stages of the season. The Tigers’ 4×200 relay team won at the Cougar Classic at Columbia High School in Maplewood last Saturday with a time of 1:32.9, the fastest recorded time in New Jersey this season and a new meet, school and county record. They then bested that time with a 1:29.2 at the Hudson County Relays at Secaucus. The runners were Timoy Malcolm, Rashawn Taylor, Taylor Lane and the state’s defending 200-meter dash champion Zamir Thomas…
When Kenny Britt was at Bayonne High School, it was believed that he was a good kid and a great football player. However, since Britt has become a professional football player, it’s been one bit of bad news after another.
Tuesday afternoon, the 22-year-old Tennessee Titans receiver was arrested and charged after allegedly taking the Bayonne police on a high-speed chase. Over the course of the last year or so, Britt has been in trouble with the law three times. It’s not good news for the obviously troubled young man…
Hudson Reporter H.S. Baseball Top Five: 1. North Bergen (4-1). 2. Memorial (4-1). 3. Hudson Catholic (4-1). 4. Union City (3-2). 5. Hoboken (3-1).
Hudson Reporter H.S. Softball Top Five: 1. North Bergen (4-0). 2. Hoboken (4-1). 3. Secaucus (3-0). 4. Union City (3-1). 5. St. Dominic Academy (1-3)….—Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.
You can also read more of Jim’s thoughts and words on his blog at www.jimhaguesports.blogspot.com including some personal thoughts about his relationship with the late Ed “The Faa” Ford.