By Greg Beacham, AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES — Tomasz Adamek has risen through boxing's highest weight classes with impressive speed for three years now, steadily knocking off bigger and bigger opponents.
Title contenders don't come much bigger than Chris Arreola, and the fighters' 33-pound weight difference is just one reason their meeting in Ontario, Calif., is so intriguing.
No major titles or unbeaten records are on the line Saturday night at Citizens Business Bank Arena, just a short drive from Arreola's native Riverside. Arreola's meeting with Adamek merely is a competitive, tough-to-predict meeting of two top heavyweights and the type of bout that should occur much more often at boxing's elite levels, both fighters believe.
"It's great to get out there and see what happens against the best fighters," Arreola said. "He's not scared of me, and I know I'm not scared of anybody."
Both boxers could have taken simpler routes to title shots, but Arreola (28-1, 25 KOs) took just one tuneup fight after losing to WBC champion Vitali Klitschko in Los Angeles seven months ago before accepting a meeting with Adamek (40-1, 27 KOs), the former light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion who has won nine straight bouts.
"I'm glad I lost," Arreola said this week while getting his hands taped for a public workout across the street from Staples Center. "It humbles people. You gain a lot from losing. I lost for the heavyweight championship. I got my shot, and I'm going to get it again. I was ready last time, and it made me more prepared for fights like this, against guys like Adamek."
The Polish star also is taking a major risk against Arreola by fighting a bigger opponent in his own backyard. Although Arreola has significantly improved his conditioning in the past year, the hard-hitting brawler weighed in Thursday at 250 pounds, while the disciplined, speedy Adamek was a trim 217.
Adamek scoffs at the notion of a size advantage for Arreola.
"I don't know if you've noticed, but I am a little taller," Adamek said. "He is bigger by 25 or 30 pounds, but I don't pay attention to size too much. I'm trying to prepare myself to fight whatever the other guy brings to the ring. If he wants to brawl with me, I will do everything to discourage him to do it."
Adamek fights out of New Jersey, but trained for this bout in Houston after partnering with new trainer Ronnie Shields. He has developed a strong fan following both in his native country and the tri-state area, where he considers the Prudential Center in Newark the site of four of his last five fights to be his home arena.
Many of his European fans won't make it to his first fight on the West Coast and even more were forced to stay home after their flights were canceled by Iceland's volcanic eruption.
"I never had that easy career or easy life," Adamek said. "I don't like easy things. If you know how I can be a world champion fighting easy guys, please let me know. If you want to be a world champion, you have to beat the guys they are putting in front of you. For sure I can make easier money fighting in Poland or New Jersey, but it's not me. It makes no point. The fans know I'm a warrior. I'm not fighting for an easy paycheck."
And though many European athletes have fallen in love with Los Angeles including the Klitschko brothers, who live part-time in Southern California don't count Adamek among them.
"I'll be back in Jersey on Sunday, so you'll have my answer how I like here," Adamek said. "I'm just doing my job here, and on Sunday, it's Jersey, here I come."
Adamek has dedicated the fight to the victims of the plane crash that killed Poland's president, his wife and 94 other people two weeks earlier.
Arreola claims his newfound dedication to conditioning under coach Darryl Hudson has turned him into a fitter, more durable fighter, even if the results haven't showed on the scales. He weighed in at 251 pounds before meeting Klitschko.
"Everything is coming along so much easier, and it's all translating perfectly in the ring," Arreola said. "If I would have been smart enough to hire a strength-and-conditioning coach three or four fights earlier, I know I would have beaten Klitschko. I know I'd already be champion. You know me, being hardheaded, I didn't listen, but that's how much difference it has made."
Before the main event in Ontario, Alfredo "Perro" Angulo will face Joel Julio in a 154-pound bout. Although the meeting of two big punchers is more intriguing than anything on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s meeting with Sugar Shane Mosley next weekend, Angulo claims he felt marginalized in the promotion of his high-stakes fight against Colombia's Julio.
Angulo (17-1, 14 KOs), a Los Angeles resident and likely crowd favorite, has won two straight since a narrow decision loss to Kermit Cintron last May. Julio (35-3, 31 KOs) has fought just once since getting stopped by James Kirkland in San Jose last year for his second straight loss.
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Source: usatoday.com
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