By Oli Smith

The plan was to finish the year and indeed the decade on a high for domestic boxing, what transpired tonight at the York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, was the fistic equivalent of a damp squib. Carl Dilks was drafted in late to take on Charles Adamu for the vacant Commonwealth Super Middleweight title. It would be a huge step up in class for Dilks, who, after a tour in Iraq for the Armed Forces, had been very busy in 2009 - fighting seven times. At the polar end of the activity scale, Charles Adamu hadn’t been seen in a boxing ring for 15 months, and had suffered one of his worst losses the last time he had.

Dilks was on the wrong end of a controversial loss in the Prizefighter tournament back in February and was keen to put the only loss on his record behind him by snatching his first piece of boxing hardware. Adamu on the other hand had other ideas; though rarely in the fight did he implement them well.

Through the opening rounds Adamu swung wildly for any available target and found himself missing by almost unbelievable margins. Carl Dilks meanwhile threw short jabs, countering where possible and covering up at other times. Though Adamu was clearly the aggressor, Dilks landed with better quality, but rarely got off more than single shots, wasting opportunities to capitalise on his opponent’s agricultural style.

Though Adamu picked it up a little in the second round, pressing the activity more, closing the gap and increasing his success rate, he soon fell back into bad habits. The fight took a turn for the worse as Adamu – still swinging wildly – began fighting negatively. He smothered Dilks’ work for no real reason but offered little when fighting on the inside. Ref Phil Edwards implored both fighters to get their act together and put on a show, but it seemed neither man could figure out the other’s style in a way that might have helped with the aesthetics.

Adamu had weighed in a few pounds shy of the Super Middleweight limit, yet on the night looked far bulkier and stronger than the comparatively lanky Dilks. Looks can sometimes be deceiving, and although only holding a one inch height advantage over Adamu, Dilks reach was 11 inches longer, allowing him to snap out long fast jabs into the face of the Ghanaian. If Dilks had a greater pool of experience to draw from, he could have made this an easy night’s work. As the fight entered the championship rounds, Dilks’ jab was still proving to be his best weapon, he was able to snap back Adamu’s head almost will, but seemed hesitant to double it up or start popping the right hand over the top.

At 32 and with 15 months of ring rust, Adamu wasn’t capable of moving through the gears like he used to, nor could he come close to getting his timing right. By round ten he had thrown nearly 500 punches with a mere eight percent success rate. Though the blue print had been laid out early, Dilks did not have the tools in his arsenal to really take the contest by the scruff of its’ neck and deliver a result.

At the final bell Dilks looked confident of victory, he had only thrown just over half of what Adamu had, yet had landed nearly 30 punches more. The audience too seemed in a buoyant mood, confident of seeing the inexperienced man from Liverpool having his arm raised. A hushed silence fell on the crowd as it was announced that the result was deemed to be split decision. Scores of 116-113 and 115-114 to Adamu, and 115-113 to Dilks were readout and saw the Ghanaian fighter regain the title he had once lost to Carl Froch back in 2004. It was a poor decision for a poor fight, though there was plenty of action throughout the twelve rounds very little of it came with any real quality to speak of. Carl Dilks was gracious in defeat and a rematch is likely to be on the cards, if he is able to learn from his own mistakes this time round – though in many people’s eye he had done enough to win the fight – he should emerge victorious next time.

In the other main event of the evening, Albert Sosnowski of Poland, now fighting out of London, won an easy decision over the Italian, Paolo Vidoz. Sosnowski has had a long and successful career at Heavyweight, yet has until now, not been able to break his way into the big time. With his win over Vidoz, he claimed the vacant EBU European Heavyweight title, and edged his way closer to the top ten in the World rankings.

In 2008, Sosnowski scored an eighth round TKO victory over Danny Williams, which many had hoped he could use as a platform to greater things. After a draw in April this year to Francisco Pianeta, he has had to wait until now to really get the ball rolling. 
Sosnowski did everything right tonight, bar end the fight early. From the first round to the final bell, he stuck with his strong jab and lateral movement to open up Vidoz and create opportunities for himself. Though he took a few rounds to really get some momentum, when he did, the results were impressive. His jab is certainly his strongest weapon, yet he also displayed a mean right hook to the body on many occasions tonight and isn’t afraid to put his punches together.

Rarely does Vidoz allow his opponent an easy night, and in breezing past the Italian former EBU and IBF Inter-Continental champion, Sosnowski has given a statement of intent. His abilities have been sharpened over the past few years and he had consistently proved himself to be one of the few Heavyweights that come to fight in truly great shape. With a record now reading 45-2-1 (27KO’s) there is no better time for Sosnowski to make a break for the next level.