By Cliff Rold
The move from Light Heavyweight to Heavyweight used to be arduous. At a limit of 175 lbs., a championship fighter could be moving up anywhere between 20 and 40 pounds to face the Heavyweight champion into the 1980s. Then things got bigger.
Bigger isn’t necessarily better, but from 175 to men like Lennox Lewis and the Klitschko, men who walk around between 240-260 lbs., is a tough task. Into the 1980s, Light Heavyweights moving up to try the upper echelon at Heavyweight was common. Success was mixed, but effort was easy to find.
Since the 1990s, it’s not. Michael Moorer did it. Tomasz Adamek is making a run at it.
Unlike the old days, a division between Light and Heavyweight proper, Cruiserweight, allows a stop gap. Adamek made the short jump and then the bigger one. This Saturday, the world finds out how serious to take him.
The world also finds out how serious to continue taking Chris Arreola. The former challenger of WBC titlist Vitali Klitschko has generated attention but, outside his title shot, hasn’t faced a Heavyweight who could be considered seriously among the division’s top ten. He certainly hasn’t beaten a fighter of that caliber.
Adamek is only fringe in that sense right now but he’s a proven world class warrior having won a belt at Light Heavyweight and the championship at Cruiser. This is a real fight, on paper a good one and a one guaranteed to excite no matter how long it lasts.
When was the last time Heavyweight had one of those?
Let’s go the report cards.
The Ledgers
Chris Arreola
Age: 29
Titles/Previous Titles: None
Height: 6’4
Weight: 250.5 lbs.
Average Weight – Last Five Fights: 256.3 lbs.
Hails from: Escondido, California (Born in Los Angeles)
Record: 28-1, 25 KO
BoxingScene Rank: #7
Record in Championship Fights: 0-1, 1 KOBY
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced in Defeat: 1 (Vitali Klitschko)
Vs.
Tomasz Adamek
Age: 33
Title: None
Previous Titles: WBC Light Heavyweight (2005-07, 2 Defenses); Lineal/Ring/IBF Cruiserweight (2008-10, 2 Defenses, Vacated)
Height: 6’1 ½
Weight: 217 lbs.
Average Weight – Last Five Fights: 206.2 lbs.
Hails from: Jersey City, New Jersey (Born in Poland)
Record: 40-1, 27 KO
BoxingScene Rank: #9
Record in Major Title Fights: 6-1, 3 KO
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated: 6 (O’Neil Bell, Steve Cunningham)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced in Defeat: 1 (Chad Dawson)
Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Arreola B; Adamek B+
Pre-Fight: Power – Arreola B+; Adamek C+
Pre-Fight: Defense – Arreola C+; Adamek B-
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Arreola B; Adamek A
Adamek isn’t a speedy fighter but he’s quicker than the average Heavyweight and that could be enough for an edge on Saturday. His jab and right hand are both straight, and accurate, and Arreola isn’t shy about getting touched. The advantage should allow Adamek to bank rounds early but Arreola will land his share as well. The larger man in this contest, Arreola is fairly consistent with his more clubbing jab and, when he gets on a roll, is a quality combination puncher.
If those combinations start to land, Arreola’s big advantage kicks in: he can punch. He’s certainly a better puncher than an Adamek who hasn’t a huge banger. It’s not that Adamek can’t punch. He dropped Cunningham repeatedly and wore out the resistance of Bell, forcing a quit. He also had Dawson down, and stunned, late in his only loss. That said, he’s not often a one punch threat and how heavy his hands are at Heavyweight remains to be seen. Andrew Golota lasted only five rounds last year but Golota is both ancient (in boxing terms) and never had a great chin.
The reason this fight is so easy to look forward to is also reason for each man’s low grade. They probably don’t like to get hit…but they don’t always act that way. Against Paul Briggs (twice) and Cunningham, Adamek found himself in hardcore classics with nary an ounce of give on display. Arreola made what was really a drubbing loss to Klitschko watchable through sheer willingness to take. He was hit hard, dropped even, by Travis Walker but turned the tide in a bar room brawl in 2008. Adamek’s greater accuracy should act as defense this weekend and Arreola, if he doesn’t get rid of the Pole early, should be well marked up win or lose.
Arreola’s conditioning, as always, is a question and in comparison to standards of what can be expected from him, Arreola appears in good shape. He’s a half pound lighter than he was for Klitschko, making this his lightest start since June 2008. Adamek is also lighter than he was last time out by around three pounds, a sign that both men know what’s on the line. Adamek has, to date, had an epic chin but never against this sort of puncher. Arreola showed he can take heavy shots from Vitali so attrition is likely the ticket for either man to achieve victory.
The Pick
Adamek is a better fighter than Arreola in terms of skill, but in the ring notions of ‘pound for pound’ comparisons are little more than laugh lines when the leather is flying. Adamek has to be a better Heavyweight, period, and it’s a tall order for a former Light Heavyweight at a 30-plus lb. disadvantage this weekend.
It wouldn’t be if Adamek were as big a puncher as the man who preceded him as Cruiserweight king, David Haye, but he’s not. Therefore he will have to find a way to win with his legs as much as his punch output. He should be able to early but if Arreola could keep coming at Vitali, one imagines he’ll keep coming after tasting the right hand of Adamek. He’ll also be dishing left hooks which, down the stretch, will accumulate. Adamek looked tired late against the relatively light hitting Estrada; Arreola is anything but light hitting.
Look for the Southern California attraction to come from behind starting around the fourth or fifth round, scoring a stoppage sometime from the eighth forward in a crowd pleaser.
Report Card Picks 2010: 12-3
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
