Adamek vs Rahman Could Be Tomasz's Road To Klitschko

By Keith Idec

Tomasz Adamek might fight a former heavyweight champion sometime in April in his native Poland.

But Hasim Rahman is much more likely to meet Adamek in his next fight than Samuel Peter.

Though Peter’s representatives have pushed hard for Adamek to take the IBF’s preferred path toward a long-pursued showdown with Wladimir Klitschko, Rahman is viewed by Adamek’s handlers as a more marketable, slightly less dangerous opponent, largely because of his age and recent history.

The 38-year-old Rahman (49-7-2, 40 KOs, 1 NC) is nearly 10 years removed from his huge upset of Lennox Lewis in South Africa and hasn’t recorded a noteworthy win since he out-pointed Monte Barrett (34-9-1, 20 KOs) in an interim WBC title fight 5½ years ago. But Adamek’s co-promoters recognize that Rahman’s name will resonate with Polish fight fans who’ll want to see their beloved countryman in what they’ll perceive as a more difficult fight than the last two bouts he won against Vinny Maddalone and Michael Grant.

The 6-foot-7, 261-pound Grant tested Adamek more than most fans and media members expected Aug. 21 at Prudential Center in Newark, but Adamek won the 12-round encounter rather comfortably on all three scorecards (117-111, 118-110, 118-111). Rahman remains a big puncher, though, so he wouldn’t be considered as much of an underdog against Adamek as the 38-year-old Grant (46-4, 34 KOs) or the 37-year-old Maddalone (33-7, 24 KOs), the game-but-limited Queens-based brawler Adamek stopped in the fifth round Dec. 9 at Prudential Center.

Rahman, a Las Vegas resident raised in Baltimore, has won four straight bouts since his poor performance against Wladimir Klitschko in December 2008, but each of those wins was recorded against an overmatched opponent. He has previously been considered as a potential foe for Adamek (43-1, 28 KOs) since Klitschko stopped him in the seventh round two years ago, but Adamek’s handlers couldn’t meet Rahman’s purse demands for a fight that wouldn’t have been broadcast by HBO or Showtime.

If Adamek and Rahman meet on April 16 in Katowice, Poland, the 12-round fight would still be televised via pay-per-view in the United States. But based on revenue generated at the gate and from Polish television, there would be more money available to pay Rahman.

Adamek, who is co-promoted by Totowa, N.J.-based Main Events and Kearny, N.J.-based Ziggy Promotions, hopes to win one more bout before trying to upset the bigger, stronger Klitschko in one of the few heavyweight title fights executives at HBO and Showtime have expressed any interest in broadcasting.

Facing Rahman might prove to be dangerous due to Rahman’s renowned right hand, but Roger Bloodworth, Adamek’s trainer, believes his fighter has made significant defensive improvements during the four training camps they’ve worked together and can consistently out-box bigger, slower men. The 6-2 Rahman, who is just about the same height as Adamek, has weighed no less than 254 pounds for any of his four fights in 2010, or roughly 20 pounds heavier than Rahman has long acknowledged as his optimum fighting weight (he weighed 238 pounds prior to knocking out Lewis).

Peter, meanwhile, wants Adamek to face him April 16 in what would be an IBF elimination match.

The IBF’s No. 1 and No. 2 spots at heavyweight are vacant, so if Adamek decides to oppose Peter (34-4, 27 KOs) he’d have to win two more fights before earning a mandated shot at Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KOs), the dominant champion who has won 13 straight fights since Lamon Brewster upset him in their April 2004 title fight in Las Vegas. According to the IBF’s blueprint, the Adamek-Peter winner would have to defeat the winner of a Feb. 11 bout between Philadelphia’s Eddie Chambers (35-2, 18 KOs) and Derric Rossy (25-2, 14 KOs), of Medford, N.Y., to become Klitschko’s mandatory challenger.

Why the IBF is endorsing Chambers and Peter as potential opponents for Wladimir Klitschko when he has so soundly defeated them in his last two bouts is anyone’s guess.

Klitschko dominated Peter, 30, before finally knocking him out in the 10th round of their rematch Sept. 11 in Frankfurt, Germany. Peter, a former WBC title-holder, is still ranked No. 6 by the IBF, though, three spots beneath Adamek.

Chambers, ranked No. 4 by the IBF, didn’t fare any better against Klitschko in their March 20 title fight in Dusseldorf, Germany. Klitschko manhandled Chambers, who knocked out Rossy in the seventh round nearly four years ago, before finally knocking him out in the 12th round.

Regardless, it would make little sense for Adamek to embrace fights against Peter and the Chambers-Rossy winner before he is afforded his first shot at a heavyweight title. Becoming Klitschko’s mandatory challenger would preclude Klitschko’s company, K2 Promotions, from continuing to demand contractual options on Adamek, but Klitschko’s representatives have expressed less interest recently in forcing options on Adamek if Klitschko makes an optional defense against him.

Adamek already is the No. 1 contender for Klitschko’s WBO title, but the Puerto Rico-based sanctioning organization has not made Adamek its “mandatory” challenger for Klitschko. Until that occurs, for whatever reason, K2 Promotions can keep seeking options for an optional WBO defense against Adamek, who would be a sizeable underdog if he ever faces Klitschko.

Contractual options have been one of the primary reasons the Klitschko-Adamek match has not been made. It is a fight and a payday, however, that Adamek definitely wants, preferably by this summer.

The 34-year-old former light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion is 5-0 since making his heavyweight debut in October 2009, when he stopped faded fellow Pole Andrew Golota (41-8-1, 33 KOs, 1 NC) in the fifth round of what amounted to one of the most-watched sporting events in their country’s history. But the more chances he takes against big, hard-hitting heavyweights, the less likely he’ll be able to earn a career-high purse that could exceed $3 million for challenging Klitschko.

Adamek’s game plan could change, of course, if Wladimir Klitschko can finally land an elusive, higher-profile fight against another former cruiserweight champion, David Haye (25-1, 23 KOs). Klitschko and his older brother, WBC champion Vitali Klitschko (41-2, 38 KOs), called out England’s Haye again in a joint statement last week, but neither Klitschko thinks Haye actually wants to fight either of them.

Keith Idec covers boxing for the Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, NJ., and BoxingScene.com.