It was a typical Tomasz Adamek night at the Prudential Center Saturday night. The house was packed with 10,972 red-wearing fans; the action was virtually non-stop and Adamek earned yet another victory.
Despite giving away five inches in height and about 44 pounds in weight, Adamek captured a 12-round unanimous decision over Michael Grant of Philadelphia to continue his quest toward a heavyweight title shot.
The judges had Adamek, a native of Poland based in Jersey City, an easy winner: 118-110, 118-111 and 117-111.
At 6-7, 261 pounds, Grant towered over the smaller Adamek (6-2, 217). But Adamek (42-1, 27 KOs) used his foot movement and quick combinations to tag the bigger Grant, who did little more than occasionally flick a long left jab.
Grant’s best chance was to make Adamek feel his power, but his power punch, his right-hand, was tucked under his chin for much of the fight as he kept trying to size up Adamek with his left jab.
“This was the first time for me fighting a light heavyweight and I had to get used to his movement,” said Grant (46-4, 34 KOs), who saw an eight-fight winning streak end.
Grant’s best punch came when he finally landed a hard right-hand at the bell to end the sixth round. Adamek went wobbling back to his stool and looked like he might be in trouble.
If Adamek was hurt, he didn’t show it as the seventh round started. He got back on his toes and kept Grant off-balance by lunging in with quick combinations that started at the body and ended with a left hook to the head.
Grant’s jab did inflict some damage, opening a cut over the corner of Adamek’s left eye in the seventh round. But the blood was stopped between rounds and never became a problem.
As the fight entered the later rounds, all Adamek had to do was stay on his feet to win. He barely made it. Grant tried with all he had to catch Adamek with a punch that would get him a knockout. But Adamek was too crafty, ducking, running, punching and tying up the bigger man every time it got dangerous.
Adamek has already been approached about a potential fight with heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko. But Adamek is waiting for the right opportunity.
In preliminary bouts, Brooklyn’s Sadam Ali improved to 9-0, stopping Lenin Arroyo of Costa Rica with a body shot at 2:46 of the fifth round. It was the fifth knockout for Ali, who dominated the bout from the start. Joel Julio of Colombia improved to 36-4 with a 10-round decision over Jamaal Davis of Philadelphia (12-7, 6 KOs).