By Keith Idec
Unbeaten welterweight prospect Sadam Ali will return to the ring on the Vitali Klitschko-Tomasz Adamek undercard Sept. 10 in Wroclaw, Poland.
The 22-year-old Ali (13-0, 7 KOs) will meet Germany’s Boris Berg (4-4-1, 3 KOs) in a non-televised, eight-round bout that night at Municipal Stadium. Ali will fight outside the United States for the first time as a pro because he works with Main Events, which also co-promotes Adamek, a popular Polish contender who’s expected to help draw a capacity crowd in excess of 42,000 when he challenges Klitschko for the WBC heavyweight title.
Brooklyn’s Ali, who represented the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, defeated John Revish, of Golden Meadow, La., by unanimous decision in his last fight, an eight-rounder May 20 at Prudential Center’s AmeriHealth Pavilion in Newark, N.J.
Ali knocked down Revish (10-4-2, 8 KOs) in the second round of that bout, which was televised by ESPN2. Ali also responded well to the first noteworthy adversity he encountered as a professional when Revish rocked him with a left hook about a minute into the last round.
He recovered from that punch, landed some hard punches of his own later in the eighth round and won 79-72 on all three scorecards.
Boxing Berg, who is 1-4-1 in his last six fights, indicates Ali’s handlers plan to remain patient as they try to transform him from a prospect into a contender. Assuming Ali wins a fight designed to keep him busy, he’ll probably fight again on a card tentatively scheduled for Dec. 9 at Prudential Center.
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, NJ., and BoxingScene.com.