Adamek Scores Lopsided Decision over Grant in Newark! Ken Hissner at ringside (Aug 22, 2010) Doghouse Boxing
Before a packed house of over 10,000 screaming fans and red and white banners throughout the building former two division world champion Tomasz Adamek, 42-1 (27), of Gilowice, Poland, now living in Jersey City, defeated Michael Grant, 46-4 (34), of Philadelphia , PA, at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, Saturday night billed as “The Big Challenge” by promoters Main Events/Ziggy Promotions.
Though cautious throughout the bout, Adamek seemed to come close to a shutout until the final round when he got on his bicycle to preserve the win. The 38 year old Grant who is known for more talk than action was being pushed by his trainer the former WBA light heavyweight champion Eddie Mustapha Muhammad throughout the match right down to the final bell. Coming in at 261 the 6:07 Grant had nothing to offer other than a long pawing jab. He may live in Philadelphia but he certainly doesn’t resemble those of the past (Joe Frazier) or the current (Eddie Chambers). Considering what IBF cruiserweight Steve Cunningham of Philadelphia and Adamek brought to the table several years ago it just wasn’t there Saturday night. The officials had the scoring one sided as Eugene Grant had it 118-110, Robert Grasso 117-111, and John Portoraj 118-111. This writer had it 119-109 with all for Adamek.
Grant was brought in to resemble the Klitschko’s. Outside of his height there was no other similarity. Grant was built up on a steady diet of tomato cans that lead him to a title fight with Lennox Lewis. He was destroyed in two rounds. The following fight Jameel McCline not only crushed him in the first round but broke his ankle. What this writer was expecting from Adamek is the type of fight Dominic Guinn fought seven years ago in breaking down Grant. It just didn’t happen. At 217 Adamek what he should concentrate on is David Haye, the WBA champ who struggled to defeat Nikolay Valuev for the title.
Grant started as usual using his reach advantage and Adamek landed several punches but didn’t seem to penetrate which may have caused him to “rush” Grant at the end of the first round as they both tumbled to the canvas. Referee Lindsey Page seemed reluctant to penalize Grant throughout the contest for such infractions as back hands, forearms and leaning on the much smaller Adamek. To his credit Adamek gave a workmanlike performance but never had the taller Grant in trouble to the point of a knockdown. Many at ringside and including this writer never expected this one to go the distance.
Adamek suffered cuts on both eyes starting in the sixth round on the right eye and the eighth round on the left eye. It seemed unbefitting the way he fought the last round allowing Grant to chase him all over the ring in desperation. Adamek on this writer’s card pitched a shutout for eleven rounds. If he were to return to the cruiserweight division Cunningham and WBO champion Marco Huck of Germany would welcome the chance to engage Adamek. Cunningham waited for a rematch that was never going to happen and stopped Huck in the meantime. Huck rebounded well going on to win the WBO title and stopped Matt Godfrey with no problem Saturday night in a title defense. Adamek draws over 10,000 in the US and five times that in Poland so there is no rush to engage one of the Klitchko’s. Like most of the fans this writer kept expecting Adamek to unleash a barrage of punches and drop Grant sometime during the twelve rounder that never happened. Adamek retained his IBF International/NABO heavyweight titles.
The semi-windup bout featured hard punching Joel Julio, 36-4 (31), of Monteria, COL, expected to starch Philadelphia’s gritty Jamaal Davis, 12-7 (6), early in their ten round light middleweight bout. It wasn’t until the third round Davis seemed to weather the early storm and put up some offense of his own. In the fourth round Julio started fast but Davis came on the second half of the round. The rest of the way and especially in the sixth round when it seemed Davis was in trouble Julio was in control. Davis has to hold his head up for holding his own with the former title challenger. Julio knew he was in a fight. Scores of 97-93 by Lynne Carter, 98-92 by Alan Rubenstein and 99-92 by Donald Givens seemed in line with this writer’s 98-92 for Julio. The referee in this bout was Randy Neumann.
Former Olympian Sadam “World Kid” Ali, 9-0 (5), of Brooklyn, came on strong in the fifth round to stop Lenin Arroyo, 20-13-1 (4), of Costa Rica, at 2:46 with a vicious left hook above the liver. Referee Steve Smoger reached the count of ten and Arroyo immediately got up from a kneeling position. Ali won the first four rounds. Arroyo had gone the distance with unbeaten Mike Jones and James De la Rosa in 2009 though he was stopped by Mike Alvarado in his last fight for the first time. He may be well advised to go back to the light welterweight division having only scored four career knockouts. This welterweight match was scheduled for eight rounds.
Jeremy “Hollywood” Bryan, 14-1 (7), of Paterson, coming off his only career loss had an easy night when southpaw Daniel Mitchell, 5-2-1 (2), of Pittsburgh, quit in his corner complaining of an injured eye from an earlier clash of heads which he caused in clinching with Bryan at the start of the round. Bryan followed up with a right uppercut to the body forcing Mitchell to take a knee. Neumann was the referee. The fans let Mitchell know they were not happy with the finish.
Five time New York Golden Glove champ Shemuel Pagan, 1-0 (0), of Brooklyn dropped Raul Rivera, 0-3 (0), of Philadelphia, in the second round and coasted to an easy win over four rounds in the junior lightweight division. Rivera went in survival mode after that. Smoger was the referee. Scores were 40-34 twice and 40-35. This is the type of opponent Pagan needs to stop and not settle for a decision.
Osnel Charles, 4-2 (0), of Atlantic City, and Hector Collado, 0-2-1 (0), of Union City, provided the only close fight of the night in a four round junior lightweight match. A strong jab dropped Collado in the first round. Halfway through the second round Charles may have had a problem with his jaw for he had his mouth open the rest of the way and did a lot of clinching. The knockdown seemed to get him the decision by scores of 38-37 twice and 39-37. It was a shame for Collado who made the fight the last three rounds came up short looking for his first win. The referee was Neumann.
The opening bout was almost over before it got started as Tyrone Luckey, 1-0 (1), of Middletown, NJ, dropped Larry Yanez, 0-1 (0), of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and had Yanez out on his feet before referee Smoger wisely called a halt at 0:54 of the first round. Yanez complained as he wobbled back to his corner. Yanez should be grateful it was stopped as he was defenseless against the ropes.
Main Events/Ziggy Promotions should be quite pleased with the turnout but may have a big decision to make in Adamek’s future at 33 and only one stoppage in his four heavyweight bouts. Matchmaker J Russell Peltz should have a hand in that decision.
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