By Ryan Songalia
With an April 24 showdown with Chris Arreola on HBO waiting for him with a win, Tomasz Adamek had a lot to lose as he approached his 12 round clash with former 2004 Olympian Jason Estrada at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.
In front of 10,123 mostly Polish fans on hand to support the former light-heavyweight and cruiserweight champion Adamek, a native of Gilowice, Poland now residing in Jersey City, NJ, showed he wasn't overlooking the task at hand as he outworked Estrada to a competitive but clear unanimous decision win. It was Adamek's second win at heavyweight, following a domination of Andrew Golota in October.
Scores were 115-113, 116-112 and 118-110. BoxingScene had it 117-111.
Adamek, 40-1 (27 KO), entered to his official theme song "Pamietaj" to an adoring chorus reciting every lyric at the top of their lungs. That alone may have been enough to mentally defeat most unprepared fighters. Estrada, of Providence, RI, remained poised and confident through the first round, picking his spots and landing effectively with the 1-2 combinations.
He punctuated his early success by staring down Adamek as he returned to his corner.
Adamek, who weighed in at a career high of 220.5, began to assert himself in the second by seizing the initiative behind his left jab. Estrada, 16-3 (4 KO), opened up the fourth round by landing a vicious left hook that momentarily stunned Adamek and forced him to rethink his own attack plan.
Though the consensus thought was that Estrada would need to move to have a chance to win, "Big Six" was content to stand in front of Adamek and walk forward. His advances usually led to counters from Adamek. After a dominant seventh round from Adamek, Estrada adjusted and began to circle in the eighth and it immediately paid dividends. Estrada landed two hard counterpunches that seemed to affect Adamek's aggression.
Realizing how desperate the situation was, Estrada tried desperately for a final round knockout that never came to fruition.
In the post-fight press conference, an irrate Estrada lashed out at the media and judges for not coming away with the win.
"Unless I killed him, I wasn't going to win. I don't care what nobody says, I'm going to blame the judges. Everything he did, I let him do. Did you see the scores? How much do I have to do? Do I have to pick him up and W W F him? Was he aggressive? No!"
Adamek was confident as he spoke of fighting the 6'4", 250 pound Arreola, 28-1 (25 KO).
"I think that just power won't be enough to beat me. You have to think in the ring and have a clear strategy on what you want to do in the ring. I proved this today that speed makes a difference and I want to prove it again against Arreola."
Kathy Duva, CEO of Adamek's co-promoter Main Events, stated that she would like to go back to the negotiating table with the figures for the attendance and try to get the bout with Arreola moved to Newark, NJ.
"They've offered him a fight on the West Coast but we're going to go back to them this week and try to convince them after what happened here. The fight deserves to be as big as it can be and this is the place for it happen."
Arreola's trainer Henry Ramirez, who was in attendance, says the fight is "set" for the Citzens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California. He says they are already advertising the fight locally.
"A win over Estrada is a good win but he's not a heavyweight with real fire power," said Ramirez. "I didn't really see him pressed tonight. I just don't think a guy that was walked down by Chad Dawson will be able to withstand the non-stop pressure of Chris Arreola."
Adamek says he is confident he can beat Arreola and then move on to a world title fight, either against WBA claimant David Haye or one of the Klitschko brothers.
"I think I will be able to win my next fight and then I'd be ready to fight the Klitschkos. I am 34 and I'm in my prime so there's no time to waste."
Farrell Passes Test Against Schneider
Before Saturday night, Jersey City's Patrick Farrell had yet to face an opponent that came to win. Farrell made a big step up look easy as he outgunned Jon Schneider of the Bronx to win a four round decision.
Farrell, 202 pounds, dropped Schneider within a minute of the fight with a short inside right. His hulking size advantage proved imposing over the relatively diminutive former marine. Schneider continued to press forward gamely but was eating every left hook Farrell threw.
Schneider continued to press forward in the second but was outgunned with each advance. He returned to the canvas in the third with another short right and survived another assault. Farrell did everything right, countering well with the flushest conceivable shots but Schneider survived. Barely.
Two judges had it 40-34 for the now 5-0 (3 KO) Farrell while the other one had it 40-33.
2008 Olympian Ali is The Goods
It's a shame that 2008 US Olympian Sadam Ali had to fight in the swing bout; As the arena emptied out, many of the 1000s on hand missed out on a great opportunity to see a potential future junior welterweight champion in the making.
The Canarsie, Brooklyn native did have a small contingent on hand to watch him outduel Jason Thompson and move to 5-0 (2 KO). Ali made good use of foot movement and aggressive combination punching to dazzle the fellow New Yorker. Scores were 40-36 across the boards.
Douglin Stays Unbeaten
Morganville, NJ prospect Dennis Douglin continued his unbeaten tour through boxing with a dominant six round decision of Seattle, WA's Eddie Hunter.
Douglin, 162 pounds, was more aggressive than usual from his southpaw, foregoing the jab in favor of wild, inside exchanges. Hunter, whom outweighed his counterpart by five pounds, landed solid shots from time to time but with very little visible effect. Douglin had knockout on his mind in the third as the torrid pace began to wear down Hunter and force him to the ropes for the majority of the round. Douglin, known as "The Momma's Boy" for being the only boxer of memory trained by his mother, continued to punish his adversary for the remainder of the fight with right hooks to the body and inside uppercuts.
Scores of 60-54 twice and 59-55 bring the former 2008 middleweight National Golden Gloves champion to 7-0 (3 KO) while Hunter drops to 3-2-1 (1 KO).
Majewski Dominates Pietrantonio
Patrick Majewski looks like a super-middleweight version of Adamek and that seemed to be enough to endear him to the Polish fans on hand to see their favorite son. For six rounds, Majewski adapted the role of "Goral" as he dominated Anthony Pietrantonio of Youngstown, OH en route to a six round shutout decision.
As chants of "Polska" began to rain down from various corners of the red and white dotted audience, Majewskji, 165, rained down with powerful right crosses on the clearly outgunned Pietrantonio, 164. Majewski, Atlantic City, NJ by way of Radom, Poland, made good use of a persistent left jab that continuously offset his opponents rhythm as he fed his opponent a steady diet of body punches and head shots. The knockout which always seemed one combination away never came.
Majewski moves to 12-0 (7 KO) while Pietrantonio drops to 6-4 (5 KO).
"Kid Chocolate" Uninspiring in Win
Fighting for the first time since September of 2008, Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quillin of Brooklyn, NY by way of Grand Rapids, MI earned a wide, if uninspiring decision over veteran Fernando Zuniga. Quillin was supposed to fight on December 3 in New York City but was forced to pull out when abdomen pain required an emergency appendectomy.
Quillin, 163.5, began the fight cautiously behind a left jab as he tried to guage what the 37-year-old Zuniga had left after more than a year of inactivity. Zuniga, 164, came alive in the third as he began to mount an attack for the first time in the fight. The Esmeraldas, Ecuador native caught Quillin with a few of those shots but Quillin was almost always ready to counter with hard right hands of his own.
As Quillin's jab began to disappear in the fourth, Zuniga took advantage of the lulls to lunge in with power shots that came one at a time. Zuniga's fatigue began to show up by the middle rounds as he struggled to solve Quillin's movement and potshotting ability. The fight continued at an uneventful pace to the final bell.
Two judges had it 100-90 for the now 21-0 (15 KO) Quillin while the other scored it 98-92. Zuniga is now 28-10 (20 KO.
Quillin redeemed himself with the crowd and media somewhat by throwing chocolate into the crowd. Who doesn't like chocolate?
Ryan Songalia is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. An archive of his work can be found at www.ryansongalia.com . He can be reached at ryan@ryansongalia.com .
