By Keith Idec
Even though his heavyweight contender is a big underdog, trainer Roger Bloodworth knows there’s no chance of gaining an advantage from Vitali Klitschko taking Tomasz Adamek lightly when they square off Sept. 10 in Wroclaw, Poland.
“The Klitschko brothers are very smart men, or they wouldn’t be in control of the heavyweight division for 10 years,” said Bloodworth, who trained Adamek for this WBC heavyweight title fight in Bushkill, Pa. “They’re chess players. They know what they’re doing. Vitali is not going to underestimate Tomasz because I’m sure he’s been watching him fight and has seen him progressing in each fight. So he’s going to be ready. He’s a warrior. He’s coming to fight. Tomasz is a warrior. He’s coming to fight.”
Poland’s Adamek (44-1, 28 KOs) will challenge Ukraine’s Klitschko (42-2, 39 KOs) for his championship in the first sporting event at Wroclaw’s new Municipal Stadium. A capacity crowd in excess of 42,000 is expected for what will go down as one of the biggest sporting events in Poland’s history.
HBO will televise the Klitschko-Adamek fight live at 4:45 p.m. EDT. It’ll be replayed later in the evening Sept. 10 as part of a “World Championship Boxing” broadcast that’ll feature a 12-round featherweight fight between Cuba’s Yuriorkis Gamboa (20-0, 16 KOs) and Mexico’s Daniel Ponce De Leon (41-3, 34 KOs) from Atlantic City.
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, NJ., and BoxingScene.com.