Friday Night Fights Recap: Adamek Wins Easy

Do you think that Tomsasz Adamek was fully confident that he would beat Gary Gomez in the main event on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois?

Absolutely. Need proof, beyond Adamek’s easygoing demeanor as he calmly put together combos, and scored a stoppage win after Gomez declined to come out for the seventh round, complaining of a hurt hand? Before the bout, the Adamek people asked Team Gomez if perhaps Adamek could come out to Utah, Gomez’ home turf, to train for Adamek’s imminent title crack at IBF cruiser champ Steve Cunningham. That title shot would evaporate if Gomez pulled the upset, but as Adamek strongly suspected, the Utah-based boxer is in a lower skill tier than he, and it appears Adamek-Cunningham will indeed come to fruition.

The bout was scheduled for 10 rounds.

The Pole Adamek, now living in New Jersey, weighed 201 pounds, and brought a 34-1 mark with him. Utah’s Gomez was 201 pounds and had a 18-9-1 record.

Adamek, age 31, had held the WBC 175 pound crown, and is rated No. 1 at cruiser by the IBF. He beat O’Neill Bell in April in his last outing.  Last August, in his last outing, Gomez lost a split decision to Jeremy Williams. It should be noted that Adamek doesn’t look puffed or soft at this higher class.

In the first round, Adamek stayed on the outside, and pecked away at the 33-year-old Gomez. The action, one had to guess, would look much like this throughout; most of the drama, I’d venture to say, would stem from seeing if Adamek could be the first pro to stop Gomez inside the distance. In the third, Adamek mixed his placement, and smartly gained angles on his foe. Gomez did not release bombs, his only chance for the win, as often as he should have to this point.

The Pole complained that he hurt his right hand after the fourth. Would Gomez notice that Adamek favored that wounded paw, and capitalize? Or would adrenaline take over, numb the hand, and perhaps Adamek would be able use the right often enough to escape detection?

That question became null almost immediately, though; Gomez chose not to start the seventh round, saying that he hurt his right hand at the end of the sixth. His corner asked him if he could fight through the pain and he declared that he could not. His corner told the ref that “he broke his hand.”

Adamek landed 223 blows to Gomez’ 37. Gomez has won once in his last five outings.

SPEEDBAG Atlas predicted that Tony Thompson would pull the upset in Germany, and come back to the US with Wladimir Klitschko’s WBO and IBF belts. It strikes me that a loss might be the best thing for Klitschko. That might jolt him out of his safety-first manner of fighting, give him an electro-shock dosage of surprise and dismay, and might spur him take it out on foes. Or, maybe Manny Steward has convinced Wlad to turn it up a notch or three, and Klitschko will come out aggressively against Thompson.

--Ex NBAer turned boxing dilettante Kendall Gill meshed nicely with Brian Kenny in the studio. He would be an improvement over a handful of folks who get gigs as fightgame analysts currently.