By Keith Idec

Sources have confirmed an agreement is in place for Tomasz Adamek to fight James Toney on Sept. 8 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

The heavyweight bout will take place in the afternoon so that the independent pay-per-view main event can air in prime time in Adamek’s native Poland. The afternoon start also will help avoid competing with HBO and Showtime cards scheduled to air that night.

The 43-year-old Toney (74-7-3, 45 KOs, 2 NC) beat Bobby Gunn by technical knockout after five rounds in his last fight, a heavyweight encounter April 7 in Southaven, Miss. Gunn (21-5-1, 18 KOs, 1 NC), whom Adamek stopped after four rounds in a cruiserweight title fight nearly three years ago at Prudential Center, said he suffered a broken hand during the fourth round of his fight against Toney.

The victory over Gunn marked Toney’s return to the heavyweight division. The trash-talking former middleweight/super middleweight/cruiserweight champion, far removed from being one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the world, suffered a lopsided loss to Russian cruiserweight contender Denis Lebedev (24-1, 18 KOs) in his previous fight, a 12-rounder Nov. 4 in Moscow.

The 35-year-old Adamek (46-2, 28 KOs) most recently defeated Philadelphia’s Eddie Chambers by unanimous decision in a 12-round fight at Prudential Center (116-112, 116-112, 119-109). The former light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion has won two bouts by decision since WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (44-2, 40 KOs) dominated him en route to a 10th-round TKO win Sept. 10 in Wroclaw, Poland.

Chambers (36-3, 18 KOs) suffered a torn tendon in his left arm during the first round against Adamek, which essentially left him to compete with one arm for 11-plus rounds. He was scheduled to have surgery Monday to repair the injury, which will require several months of rehabilitation.

An official announcement of the Adamek-Toney fight is expected later this week, once contracts are finalized. Tickets to Adamek’s ninth fight at Prudential Center, where the Kearny, N.J., resident has regularly drawn large crowds since December 2008, will go on sale shortly thereafter.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com.