By Ian S Palmer
Polish heavyweight Tomasz Adamek will be heading home this weekend as he takes on fellow countryman Artur Szpilka in a 10-round bout at the Krakow Arena in Krakow, Poland on Saturday, November 8. Adamek, a former light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion, now fights out of New Jersey and is coming off of a loss in his last bout. Szpilka also lost his last fight and this contest is for the vacant IBF International Heavyweight Championship.
The 37-year-old Adamek has been a very consistent and underrated boxer throughout his fine career, but has always flown under the radar and has never quite reached the elite or star status anywhere other than his homeland. He enters the fight with a fine record of 49-3 along with 29 Kos. He’s almost 6-feet-2-inches tall and has a 75-inch reach. He’s been stopped just once, and that was against Vitali Klitschko in the 10th round back in 2011. His last outing was a 12-round unanimous decision defeat against Vyacheslav Glazkov back in March for the IBF North American Heavyweight Title.
Adamek has also been beaten by decision against Chad Dawson. On the bright side, Adamek has beaten some good boxers over the years since turning pro in 1999, such as Paul Briggs, Steve Cunningham, Eddie Chambers, Michael Grant, Vinny Maddalone, Chris Arreola, Andrew Golota, Jason Estrada, Bobby Gunn, Johnathon Banks, O’Neil Bell, Thomas Ulrich, and Travis Walker.
The 25-year-old Szpilka is 6-foot-3 and is a southpaw. He’s going to be climbing through the ring ropes with an impressive mark of 16-1 with 12 of his wins coming by way of Ko. His loss came at the hands of American Bryant Jennings when he was stopped in the 10th round back in January of this year at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Szpilka’s beaten the likes of Mike Mollo (twice), Brian Minto, Jameel McCline, and Owen Beck. Szpilka turned pro back in 2008.
Adamek has a boatload of experience as well as an excellent chin. He’s come up through the weight ranks and isn’t really a natural heavyweight. He’s getting on in age, but still has enough left in the tank to be competitive. He’s at his best when he presses the action and gets off first. He’s got enough power to do some damage, but isn’t the hardest guy to hit. Szpilka has a decent chin, but not a great one. He likes to throw punches and possesses quite a bit of power in his fists. He’ll need to land some heavy shots to keep Adamek off of him.
Prediction
This could actually be quite an exciting fight if Szpilka is the one initiating the action. If he sits back and lets Adamek dictate the pace he’ll be in trouble. Adamek is the better boxer here, but Szpilka arguably has more power. If Adamek’s chin is as good as it usually is he should take this bout by a close decision or perhaps end it by a late stoppage.
