By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
A week prior to November's 12th-round, knockout of former three-time world champion, Miguel Cotto, WBO welterweight (147 pounds) king,Manny Pacquiao, delivered food as part of disaster relief in his native Manila, Philippines during a murderous typhoon.
Last Saturday, Haitian-American, WBC welterweight titlist, Andre Berto, of Winter Haven, Fla., scored an eighth-round knockout of southpaw former world champion, Carlos Quintana, of Puerto Rico.
Berto did so with a heavy heart in a clash that ended an 11-month ring absence during which eight of Berto's family members were killed in the mid-January earthquake that rocked Haiti, and during which Berto made several trips to provide everything from financial support to burying the dead.
On Saturday, April 24, at Citizens Business Bank Arena, Ontario, Calif., the nearly 6-foot-2, Polish-born former light heavyweight (175 pounds) and cruiser weight (200 pounds) champion, Tomasz Adamek, of Jersey City, will be facing similar adversity when he takes on 6-foot-4, heavyweight contender, Chris Arreola, who, weighed 263 pounds for his last fight and represents the largest man the 33-year-old Adamek has ever fought.
And Adamek (40-1, 27 knockouts) will be doing so while thinking about the 96 passengers and crew who died in Saturday's plane crash in Russia near Smolensk, including Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, and several political, military and religious leaders.
"Team Adamek is dedicating this fight to all of the people who died there and to their families. This was a tragedy which has never, ever happened in the history of the world. We basically lost the president, the First Lady. There's nobody there. It's a big void. How those people will be replaced, I have no idea. Just the outpouring of grief and sympathy," said Adamek, during a conference call that included Arreola on Wednesday.
"Today, just to see the coffin of the president, you have to stay in a line which is about five miles long. This is what is happening right now in Poland," said Adamek, who has won nine straight fights with six knockouts during the run. "This is a great tragedy on a personal and political level. Every Pole is feeling the grief, and every Pole is touched, because we don't know how we're going to rebuild it."
Adamek debuted in boxing's largest division with October's fifth-round knockout of former world heavyweight title contender, Andrew Golota (41-8-1, 33 KOs), whom Adamek dropped in the first, and, fifth rounds, despite being out-weighed, 214-to-256.
In his second heavyweight bout in February, Adamek earned a 12-round, unanimous decision over former U.S. Olympian, Jason Estrada, who out-weighted Adamek, 237-to-220.5.
But the 28-year-old Arreola (28-1, 25 knockouts) weighed a career-high, 263-pounds for his last bout, which was which was December's fourth-round knockout of Brian Minto (34-3, 21 KOs), who was stopped for the first time in his career by Arreola.
Nicknamed, "The Nightmare," Arreola's victory helped him to bounce back from September's 10th-round knockout loss to WBC king, Vitali Klitschko (39-2, 37 KOs) heading into the clash with Adamek, who is dedicating the fight to those who died in the airplane crash.
"I was invited to have breakfast with President Kaczynski [to happen in May,] who died in the accident, and it was supposed to happen just after the fight with Chris," said Adamek, whose match with Golota, a native of Warsaw, Poland, who lives in Chicago, took place in Atlas Arena in Lodz, Poland, before a large crowd there.
"I know that the president was as big fan of boxing. A bigger fan than he was of soccer. So this is the one person that I will never ever get to see. I have a very deep faith, and I am strong because of this faith," said Adamek. "I understood what happened, and I am grieving, but I can seperate my personal feelings and draw from my religious experiences and strength to not be distracted before this fight. I am very motivated."
Adamek has not lost a fight since February of 2007, when he was dethroned as WBC, light heavyweight champion via unanimous decision against Chad Dawson.
"The light heavyweight championship was a nightmare, no pun intended. Being that I had to lose 15-and-20 pounds every time, I was basically exhausted all of the time," said Adamek.
"So I couldn't wait to get out of the light heavyweight division and start doing something as a cruiser weight," said Adamek. "And I decided to fight the best at that weight from the beginning. I fought Steve Cunningham, who was the No. 1 boxer and I beat him in my first really tough cruiser weight fight."
Adamek won the IBF cruiser weight belt by split-decision over Steve Cunningham in December of 2008, and defending it twice before facing Golota.
"The Bible said that David won versus Goliath. So the size in the ring will not matter. It never mattered to me. I draw my inspiration from God. I won two titles in two different divisions. Nobody thought I could win those, and I want a third one," said Adamek.
"So in this case, the size of Chris Arreola, whether he's 6-8, 6-9, 6-5, it really makes no difference," said Adamek. "Because you're winning the fight, and this is what I strongly believe, with what's in your heart, and not the size of your body. This is a natural progression for me to be a heavyweight, and I've believed that from the beginning. I realize how tough Chris Arreola is, but the tougher it is, the better I am."
Arreola, however, believes that his size and experience will be too much for Adamek.
"Honestly, I don't think that Adamek's going to come and try to fight me the way that he's fought in the light heavyweight division and in the cruiser weight division. If he didn't come to fight against Estrada, then there's no way that he's going to come and try to fight me, because Estrada can't pop a grape," said Arreola.
"If he comes to fight me, then he's going to get knocked out. Personally, I'm hoping that he comes to fight, but you know I don't expect him to fight the way that he used to fight," said Arreola.
"Do I hope that it's going to be an exciting fight? Yes, on my part, I'm going to give my all to make it an exciting fight," said Arreola. "As far as quickness, I don't care about his quickness. People don't think that I'm quick, so there are some stuff that I might have to show people in this fight."
Arreola caused a stir by saying that he considered Adamek to be a "medicated heavyweight" until later clarifying that he did not mean that Adamek had used steroids to increase his strength and weight.
"I consider Adamek to be a cruiser weight who doesn't have to cut down. To me, he's a medicated heavyweight. As far as him being a full-blown heavyweight, I don't believe that he is. I believe that he's a blown up cruiser weight. After this, he's going to have to go back to cruiser weight. My job in this fight is to show him that he doesn't belong in the heavyweight division," said Arreola.
"Tomasz Adamek was saying that David versus Goliath type of crap, but I just don't care about that. I'm there to fight," said Arreola. "I'm not there to preach the Bible. I don't care. I'm there to fight, and I'm a fighter, and that's what I do. The main thing about this camp is that everything's moving along and everything is a lot easier than it used to be."
Arreola said that he believes that he will have to chase Adamek before cornering him and finishing him.
"Tomasz Adamek is a proven champion, and my respect goes out to him in that sense. But one thing is that I know that he's going to run away from me, and I know that I'm going to have to try to cut the ring off," said Arreola.
"And once I get him against the ropes, I'm going to have to bang away -- bang his arms, bang his body, and do whatever I have to do," said Arreola. "I just think that losing to Vitali Klitschko, that fight should have been mine. I feel like I have a lot to prove. But Tomasz is no Vitali Klitschko. Vitali was big and rangy and he knew how to run, but eventually, I'm going to catch up to him, and then, it's going to be over."
But Adamek said that he will out box Arreola.
"My strategy in a fight is to move around and not get hit," said Adamek. "But believe me, Chris Arreola will get hit."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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