By Mike Coppinger
Former cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek is quite confident ahead of the biggest fight of his life, as he prepares to take on the elder Klitschko, Vitali, on September 10 (HBO, 4:45 ET) in his native Poland. Adamek feels his quickness among other attributes will be too much for the top heavyweight.
"I am quicker, my spirit is strong. I think my mind is stronger,” Adamek said in a conference call. “I respect him but I think I am (an) uncomfortable (fighter) for him."
Adamek feels that he’ll be buoyed by competing before his raucous fans against Vitali, who rarely fights in enemy territory.
"The whole country believes in me,” said Adamek, a native of Zywiec, Poland. “It's very important to me. I know they say I am not the favorite, but in Poland I will have millions cheering for me."
The former light heavyweight contender – his only career loss coming to Chad Dawson in February 2007 – is 7-0 at heavyweight, his biggest victory coming via 12-round decision over Chris Arreola on HBO last year.
Now, he’s in for the fight of his life, against arguably the best heavyweight in the world. But Adamek swears that viewers will see a fighter who doesn’t fear a Klitschko, unlike most of the duo’s foes.
"I believe you have to have the right frame of mind to get in the ring. I know how to beat Vitali,” said Adamek, 34. “I know that he will be expecting somebody who will be intimidated, even scared, but this will not be the case for me. He will not get a fighter standing in front of him, waiting for execution and payday. He will get somebody with no fear and the will and skills to win. This will be deciding factor on September 10."
Mike Coppinger is a regular boxing freelancer for USA TODAY and Ring Magazine. He’s a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, the Ring Ratings Advisory Panel and the Yahoo! Sports Boxing Panel. Follow him on Twitter: @MikeCoppinger.