Haye Dodges Klitschkos, Adamek Weaves Into Picture

Written by Michael Woods

Monday, 24 January 2011 23:29

Arreola Adamek No reason for this man not to smile. He'll make multi millions to fight a Klitschko TBD in his homeland in September. (Hogan Photos)The best laid plans of mice, and men, and most all associated with this red light district of sports oft go awry. So it was with a bit of surprise, and we must admit, some satisfaction when we received word from Main Events head Kathy Duva that her guy, Tomasz Adamek, the Pole now making his home in New Jersey, will get a crack at a Klitschko. Which one hasn't been determined, but terms are in place for the ex light heavy and cruiserweight champion, who has been patiently and skillfully guided to a multimillion dollar opportunity at taking down one of the Brothers K, to get a shot.

Kathy Duva, who is the odds-on favorite to win BWAA nonexistent promanager of the year award in 2011 if this gets to the goal line, told TSS, "The fight is done. Everyone has signed. The fight will take place in Poland in September. K2 will release more information tomorrow. We are delighted. Our plan with Adamek was to prepare him to fight for and win the heavyweight title and also to make sure that when he did so he would be well compensated. We are extremely happy with the deal and look forward to working with the Klitschko team to make this event as big, exciting and successful as it can possibly be."

Adamek does have one more hurdle to climb before the crack at a Klitschko: he will take a stay-sharp fight sometime in April, we presume against someone who is quite unlikely to screw up the plan.

This mega-opportunity came about because David Haye is continuing his campaign to convince everyone but his fanclub that he is only capable of talking the talk, but when it comes time to walking tall, and actually signing a deal, and sticking to it, and fighting a Klitschko, he comes up short. The WBA champion called Wladimir a "coward" for choosing to fight an interim bout, against Dereck Chisora on April 30. He and his manager Adam Booth have been scouring homeless shelters and I hear have a date to visit a busy morgue in London to find a suitable foe for Haye. Ruslan Chagaev is supposed to get a chance as the No. 1 contender, but he has in the past tested positive for hepatitis, and it is unclear whether that permits him to fight Haye. Jean Marc Mormeck, who clashed with Haye in 2007, when he was only 34, is in the mix to fight Haye next. He is to be fair a more challenging foe than Audley Harrison, who fought Haye in December like he would have money deducted from his purse if he threw a punch. And now Haye is "threatening" to retire when he turns 31 in October because....good God, who cares, this man's posturing is more effective than benadryl at making me groggy. Honestly, I hesitate to even relay this synopsis on Haye, because the guy just yanks so many chains, and wastes peoples' time to such a maddening degree, but since it does pertain to the likable Adamek....

Now, if all goes to plan, and Adamek does fight a Klitschko--and we're hearing Wladimir would be the likelier of the brothers to get the gig---we have to ask: could he win?

And we have to answer: not likely. But we admit we'd not be at all crushed to see him do the job. He and Duva embarked on this quest way back in 2008, when Adamek met Steve Cunningham in a barnburner in New Jersey. He beat USS, and then Johnathon Banks, and Bobby Gunn in Jersey, Andrew Golota in Poland, Jason Estrada in Jersey and then stepped up a notch in beating Cris Arreola in Cali last April. The 34-year-old with 43-1 (28 KOs) record got Ws over Michael Grant and Vinny Maddalone in his last two matches.

Sum all that up, and you have to say Duva has been a wiz in taking the slow lane to this point. Arreola, not to be confused with anything resembling a Hall of Fame talent, no matter what some folks overly hopeful that an American could make some noise in the division wished for, represents the best of the lot among recent Adamek foes. And maybe you remember the "success" he had when he fought Vitali, getting stopped out in the tenth in September 2009. So the climb will be a tough one for Adamek. But then again, merely to reach this point is something of a miracle, so who's to say the run of luck doesn't continue for Adamek and Duva?

Comment on this article

FighterforJC says:

I don't understand why Haye is still being accused of Dodging Klitschko when it was clearly Wladimir, at least this time, who chose to fight somebody else ahead of David Haye. Wlad and everybody knows that Haye is the only fighter people care to see any of the Klitschkos fight. They finally somehow managed to agree to some terms and Wlad decides to fight Chisora first? How is David Haye to blame for that?

mortcola says:

FighterforJC says:

Simple. Wlad had a contract with Chisora, and he chose to honor it and to stay busy, rather than wait until July to POSSIBLY fight a David Haye who had already bailed on two Klitschko fights. Haye refused to negotiate on the grounds that Klitschko, an active champion, chose to honor his commitment to Chisora and have an interim fight. Simple. Haye walked away. Again.

As an outsider who was not physically present during the latest Haye-Klitschko talks, whatever was released on various boxing websites made it sound like Haye and Wlad were going to fight each other for real this time. Wlad gave Haye perhaps a convenient way out, too convenient if you ask me. It doesn't seem like Wlad was too interested in fighting Haye, either. We all know that Haye is a talker, but the way Wlad's been talking about Haye made it seem like Wlad was out to get Haye in the ring at all costs. Then on a technicality and based on Haye "walking out" the last time, Wlad picks Chisora over Haye. I'd have to side with Haye on this.

mortcola says:

Wlad didn't pick Chisora over Haye. He chose to honor his contract with Chisora and fight Haye next, within a short window. If Haye had not begun to scream "coward", then proclaim that he could retire in October with a satisfying legacy and forsake the Klitschkos forever, we would not be having this conversation. Haye would be defending his "title" against, one can wish, a legit top ten contender - ANYONE, please - and then finalizing the July or, horrors, an early Autumn match against Wlad or Vitali. It is the dramatics of Haye that drew everyone's attention to this situation - behavior unbecoming a champion.

Radam G says:

Doc W. Klits is not about honoring a contract. It is about the money. There is no honor in boxing. Contract are torn up or paid off all the time. If that sucka was getting the type of moola of Money May and THC Pera Pac, he would have broke that contract with the green-arse Chisora in a New York minute or a Texas quickdraw, or woulda just paid that sucka sit-on-your-arse-for-sec money. Five percent of pugilists, 10 percent of boxing scribes, 70 percent of fans and 95 percent of fanfaronades just don't get it. [As Uncle Rogers says, "Most people don't know syet 'bout boxin!"> This is a danger sport, which is prize based, not pride based.

The elite athletes come to this sports with a dream and a BIG intent to make lots of moola. The athletes with high prides in front of pay go to other sports. In boxing, it has always been no HUGE PAY, no HUGE PLAY! The mid-thirty-year-old something Doc Wlad is a boxing money business man, not an immature boxing hurt man. Nowadays, for he and Haye, it is BIG MONEY first and FOREMOST. The haggling is about MOOLA. Against one another, no promoter will get neither one of these fighters cheap. No d*mn cheap date for them. They are the heavyweight DIVAS. Everything else is a dang optical illusion to pamper those not in the know and the fanfaronades. Both pugilists have done that talking, but the fight fans are not willing to do any BIG moola walking. Wake up and smell the coffee, or will the coffee wake up those arses anyway. I personally get my wake up on to smelling the ginger tea and freshly-made Pinoy Betamax. Haye and Doc W.K. was smack talkin' one another to see if the fans and fanfaronades would bite. They didn't! So both fighters are smart enough to SUCK IT UP and MOVE on for the time being. Holla!

Isaiah says:

How can anyone think that Wladimir is to blame for David Haye ducking again? Answer me this. If the year before, you were only able to fight once that year because of the that same man ducking out a matchup with you for whatever reason, why wouldn't you be sure to have an interim fight in April incase Haye decides, "oops, I can't fight in July because', (Name a reason. It doesn't even have to be a believable one.)? The only one who's the coward is David Haye! "Oh, I can't fight Wladimir because he's fighting someone in April and I just somehow know, that he won't fight me just 9 weeks later!" Freakin really?! That's the excuse! David Haye seems to conviently forget anything about 2009, doesn't he? And.... even if Haye was right and Wladimir did duck out of a July fight, that would get Haye paid good money for his trouble and make him look way better in the public eye! Get out of here with these COWARDLY excuses! Max Bear once bragged that he would defend the title twice in one night! (Quite a boast.) Muhammed Ali defended the title in a span of 2 months before! Mike Tyson has fought about 15 times in a year before! "Oh, I'd have to fight a mandatory and I can't fight Wladimir just 9 weeks later!" Oh, so it's not like it's because Wladimir wouldn't want to be a year inactive by dropping the April fight and Haye just happens to find a reason not to fight in July so like I said, Wladimir would VERY POSSIBLY be a year inactive before he got to Tomaz Adamek in September! I guess some people don't want to see the truth that David Haye is a CHICKEN FECES stain on boxing and the sooner he retires, THE BETTER, so we can finally get someone who will have the WBA title and ACTUALLY fight a Klitschko! NUFF SAID!

mortcola says:

Radam - by "honor", I mean the verb definition of adhere to or keep an agreement; not "uphold the highest standard". The IBF gave Klitschko a deadline to make his decision to fight Chisora or move on and pay whatever Derek was guaranteed. Klitschko opted to take the fight.

Toby says:

The only Klitchko fight I would pay to see is if the Klitchko Brothers decided to fight each other. Now that would be an interesting fight. All of these other guys are just Tomato Cans.

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