200-pound king Tomasz Adamek may decide to try his luck at heavyweight, but pardon the general boxing fan if they're less than enthusiastic at the prospect of a future with Sultan Ibragimov and Nicolay Valuev in it.By and large, most boxing fans can’t help but love cruiserweight titleist Tomasz Adamek. He’s the kind of fighter that has all the tools for success both in and out of the ring: An action-packed style, great heart, willingness to slug, huge Polish following, TV-friendly fights. He’s one of those fighters you almost can’t help but root for, because you know you’re going to get your money’s worth every time he steps into the ring. He’s also stepped into the ring with many of the best to boot, including wins over Steve Cunningham, O’Neil Bell, Paul Briggs and a loss to number one 175-pounder Chad Dawson in the spring of ’09.
So it was completely understandable that in front of over 17,000 screaming Polish fans on October 24, Adamek took a competitive break and fought long-faded heavyweight Andrew Golota, his countryman. The fight was a sensation throughout the country, garnering both fighters big paychecks while the event became the most-watched TV program EVER in Poland. Despite moving up in weight, Adamek performed exceptionally, knocking out Golota in round five to the cheers of the Arena Lodz crowd. Adamek had fulfilled his heavyweight dalliance, and now it was off to a rematch with Cunningham, or intriguing fights with Jean Pascal, Adrian Diaconu or Tavoris Cloud.
But not so fast. Like so many that have dabbled with boxing’s Big Boys, Adamek said after the fight that he would either stay at 200 pounds or move up to the heavyweight division permanently. While his Polish faithful might be thrilled at that prospect, you could hear boxing fans all over the globe cringe, as yet another great fighter could potentially be lost to the proverbial heavyweight boondoggle.
For every Evander Holyfield, there are countless other fighters that have wasted their time moving up to heavyweight when they could have established themselves at 175 or cruiserweight. James Toney was doing some impressive things at cruiserweight when he decided that fighting guys like Sam Peter, Hasim Rachman and Fres Oquendo were his ticket to heavyweight stardom. No offense to Toney, who will surely be in the Hall Of Fame, but he was realistically going to get as close to dethroning the Klitschko’s as he was to becoming the U.S. Ambassador to Nepal. Instead of seeing if he could rule the cruiserweight roost as he had done at 168 so well, he immediately jumped up to heavyweight to fight Holyfield. After a win against the faded former cruiserweight king, Toney was above 200 pounds to stay (and the way Toney eats lately, his local burger joint was probably thrilled). While Toney was in some decent fights from that point on, the thrill of his last cruiserweight fight with Vassily Jirov was never close to being recaptured.
The same situation applies to Adamek here. Yes, he can make tons of money fighting European heavyweights. Yes, he can get huge TV exposure and would be a big draw at any arena, Poland or otherwise. Yes, he could handle himself by and large with those big heavyweights. But would he be a factor? Probably not. Like Toney before him, Adamek would likely struggle through the Ruslan Chagaev’s and Alexander Povetkin’s of the world, maybe winning, maybe not. He certainly won’t get through enough of them to face either Klitschko brother. Even if popularity eventually dictated that Adamek get a shot, does anyone think that he would beat Vitali or Wladamir? Adamek’s maxed-out weight for the Golota fight was still 30 pounds south of the Klitschko’s walking around weight. And unless Adamek is somehow different than most smaller fighters who’ve fought the Klitschko brothers, it sure wouldn’t make for an exciting night.
The idea here is not to begrudge Adamek if he wants to live the heavyweight dream, because it’s certainly understandable. Perhaps he would be much better than anyone thinks. It’s just that seeing him continue his thrilling dominance of the 200 pound division seems a lot more fun than watching him struggle to beat mid-level opposition in the heavyweight ranks. The heavyweight division already has its share of snoozers; it would sure be a shame if the once-exciting Thomasz Adamek contributed to that number.
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