By Ian S Palmer
New Zealand’s Solomon Haumono will be travelling to Gdansk, Poland this Saturday, June 24th when he takes on veteran hometown hero Tomasz Adamek at the Ergo Arena. The 12-round bout can be seen live on pay-per-view in Poland. Adamek hasn’t fought since April of 2016 when he was stopped in the 10th round by Eric Molina. Haumono was last in the ring with current undefeated WBO Heavyweight Champion Joseph Parker last July and was stopped in the fourth round. Adamek has now lost three of his last four fights.
The 40-year-old Adamek enters the contest with a record of 50-5 with 30 Kos. His recent losses have been to Molina, Vyacheslav Glazkov and Arthur Szpilka, with Molina being the only one to stop him. His lone win in the last four outings was in September of 2015 when he stopped Przemyslaw Saleta after five rounds. Adamek is a former light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion. He’s been a very consistent and underrated boxer throughout his fine career.
However, he’s always flown under the radar in the U.S. and never quite reached the elite or star status anywhere other than his homeland, even though he fought out of New Jersey for awhile. Adamek is almost 6-feet-2-inches tall and has a 75-inch reach. He’s been stopped just one other time in his pro career and that was against Vitali Klitschko in the 10th round back in 2011 his other loss came at the hands of Chad Dawson by unanimous decision in 2007.
On the bright side, Adamek has beaten some fine boxers over the years since turning pro in 1999, such as Paul Briggs, Steve Cunningham, Eddie Chambers, Michael Grant, Vinny Maddalone, Nagy Aguilera, Chris Arreola, Andrew Golota, Jason Estrada, Bobby Gunn, Johnathon Banks, O’Neil Bell, Thomas Ulrich, and Travis Walker. He has plenty of experience against good opposition and has 376 pro rounds under his belt.
Adamek has solid power, but isn’t known as a knockout artist. His current Ko percentage stands at 55 per cent. He’s on the downside of his career now and the 14 months out of the ring definitely won’t help him, but should still have 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.
Haumono is actually older than Adamek as he’s now 41. His record stands at 24-3-2 and has 21 Kos to his name. He’s definitely a heavy hitter as his current knockout ratio is an impressive 72 per cent. But on the downside, Haumono is easy to hit and doesn’t have much in the way of speed. As well as being stopped by Parker, Haumono’s other two pro losses were to American Kevin Johnson by stoppage in the 10th round in April of 2013 and at the hands of Justin Whitehead in 2009 via a 10-round split decision.
Haumono definitely has a puncher’s chance and can be a handful if he lands enough solid blows. He stands 6-feet-2-inches tall and has a wingspan of 74 inches. He’s fought 140 rounds since turning pro back in 2000. Haumono’s two draws came against Colin Wilson in 2009 in and eight rounder and against Joey Wilson in 2010 in a 10-round bout. He’s also beaten Cliff Couser, Sam Hunter and Marcelo Luiz Nascimento in his career. Haumono now resides in Australia and is a well known former NRL (National rugby League) player.
Prediction…
This is an even matchup when it comes to age and size, but Adamek has the edge in experience. However, this may be canceled out by Haumono’s power advantage. In his prime, I’d take Adamek in a heartbeat. But since he’s past his prime it’s going to come down to his chin. Still, he should have the skills to beat Haumono.
