By Ryan Songalia
 
Tomasz Adamek's fight against Vinny Maddalone could be classified under the term coined by Larry Merchant several weeks ago as an "agenda fight". Promoter Main Events knew that, in Maddalone, they would get a game but vastly overmatched opponent whom Adamek could look good against.
 
The hope was that a stellar Adamek performance would bolster public support for him to challenge against one of the three heavyweight champions, Klitschkos Wladimir and Vitali, or David Haye.

And look good Adamek did.
 
In front of a Prudential Center crowd in Newark, NJ that was lighter than average due to the Thursday night scheduling, Polish favorite Tomasz "Goral" Adamek scored a dominant fifth round TKO at 2:17.
 
The 34-year-old Adamek (43-1, 28 KO) of Jersey City, NJ by way of Zywiec, Poland scored his first knockout in three fights since finishing compatriot Andrew Golata in his first heavyweight bout.
 
Maddalone (33-7, 24 KO) of Flushing, Queens has to now wonder if, at 36, he wants to continue getting hit as much as he does for a living.
 
From the opening bell, the former light-heavyweight and cruiserweight champion Adamek dominated behind his stiff left jab against the cruder former toughman contest winner. Though Maddalone gamely came through the punches with his wild swings, Adamek's body blows were gradually beginning to break him down.
 
In the fourth round Adamek finally staggered Maddalone with a combination of right crosses and left hooks that stumbled the game Italian-American.
 
With Maddalone's face beginning to swell noticeably, Adamek put Maddalone on his back with a 1-2-3 combination in the fifth that had good night all over it. Bravely, Maddalone rose at the count of eight and was met by a savage onslaught from Adamek. As referee Steve Smoger looked on, trainer Nirmal Lorick elected to throw in the towel and spare Maddalone from potentially lasting damage.
 
"I felt he was going down, but he got back up," said Adamek. "I thought maybe I could hit him a few more times and he would go down again.
 
"Vinny is a warrior."
 
Adamek now joins Evander Holyfield and Brian Minto as among the fighters whom have Maddalone. In recent fights Jean Marc Mormeck and Denis Boytsov beat Maddalone by decision.
 
At the post-fight press conference, Adamek looked unmarked as he voiced his approval with a calendar year that saw him go 4-0 in his first year as a heavyweight. He said the next fight will be in April, but hinted that a clash with badly-faded relic Roy Jones Jr. could be next.
 
"[Adamek's co-promoter] Ziggy [Rozalski] says, 'Tomasz, you have to train hard with Roger. Business, you leave it to me.'"
 
"Why will you beat the Klitschkos?" posed a writer to Adamek.
 
"Because I want to be champion," replied Adamek, misunderstanding the objective of the question.
 
Kathy Duva, who promotes Adamek's fights under the Main Events banner, says that she won't hold her breath waiting for the Klitschkos and an HBO date.
 
"We have been living our lives without HBO for a very long time now," said Duva. "It's obvious that if your career depends on HBO, then you won't have a career.
 
"He fought on HBO last April, he hasn't been invited back yet. They said they'll take him with one of the Klitschkos or with David Haye and that's great if that fight happens and the money will be there."
 
Duva says that she had approached unbeaten Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin (20-0, 15 KO) about facing Adamek since HBO had expressed interest in buying the fight but claims Povetkin declined the invitation. Povetkin coincidentally was at ringside.
 
Still, she isn't worried that Adamek will be left entirely in the cold.
 
"He's gonna be the mandatory for Wladimir Klitschko by the Summer with the WBO, and hopefully the IBF as well. Sooner or later they'll have to do it and we're gonna have a lot more leverage to negotiate with at that point.
 
"At this point, they're just saying, 'Yeah we'll fight him, but we're gonna take all the money and we're not gonna give you much more than we give everyone else. [Adamek] deserves a lot more than they were giving [Dereck] Chisora or anybody else because he earned it.
 
"I understand, they're used to making a certain amount of money and that's what they want to make every time so we have to find a way to make even more money."
 
Ryan Songalia is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and contributes to GMANews.TV and the Filipino Reporter newspaper. He can be reached at ryan@ryansongalia.com. An archive of his work can be found at www.ryansongalia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ryansongalia.