By Keith Idec
Cristobal Arreola is too big and too strong for Tomasz Adamek.
Adamek doesn’t hit hard enough to make Arreola respect him. Adamek eats essentially every right hand thrown in his direction.
Ronnie Shields has heard all about Arreola’s advantages since he began training Adamek about two months ago for the popular Polish contender’s career-shaping showdown with Arreola tonight in Ontario, Calif., near Arreola’s hometown of Riverside. The respected trainer from Houston has worked with one of the most accomplished “small” heavyweights in boxing history, however, so he isn’t intimidated by Adamek’s assignment in a 12-round fight that’ll be broadcast as an HBO “Boxing After Dark” main event from Citizens Business Bank Arena.
“I heard the same thing when Holyfield moved up from cruiserweight to heavyweight,” Shields said. “They said, ‘He’s too small. He’s too this. He’s too that.’ But Holyfield became the undisputed heavyweight champ of the world. So I know, because I’ve been there with Evander, that it takes more than power to beat a guy with speed. You have to keep up with the guy. This is something that Arreola’s going to have to do. In order for him to win the fight, he’s going to have to keep pace with Tomasz. And I don’t think he’s going to be able to do it.”
Shields suspects Arreola’s continuous conditioning issues will cost him against Adamek (40-1, 27 KOs), whom handicappers have installed as a slight underdog.
The 6-foot-4 Arreola (28-1, 25 KOs) weighed in at 250½ pounds Thursday for the fight. That’s 12½ pounds lighter than he was when he stopped Brian Minto in the fourth round Dec. 5 in Atlantic City, and almost exactly the same weight he was for his one-sided unanimous decision defeat to WBC champion Vitali Klitschko seven months ago in Los Angeles.
But Arreola remains about 10 pounds heavier than his handlers would prefer, despite working with strength and conditioning coach Daryl Hudson for his last three fights. And he has only gone beyond four rounds six times in 29 professional fights since his debut in September 2003.
His longest fight was the demoralizing beating he absorbed against Klitschko, a 10-round destruction that exposed Arreola’s limitations against one of the few elite heavyweights in boxing.
While Adamek obviously doesn’t possess power comparable to Klitschko’s, Shields and Adamek seem certain that he can pick apart Arreola, too, if he follows their game plan by boxing an opponent who stands nearly three inches taller than him and out-weighs him by 33½ pounds. Therein lies Adamek’s most daunting challenge.
He’s a better boxer than Arreola, but Adamek rarely remains committed to boxing for extended stretches during fights. The Kearny, N.J.-based fighter’s preference for brawling has made for some extremely exciting slugfests and helped promoter Main Events establish Adamek as one of boxing’s biggest draws at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., over the past 16 months.
But the courageous Adamek cannot afford to approach Arreola the way he attacked Steve Cunningham and O’Neil Bell in his biggest cruiserweight wins, or how he battled Paul Briggs during their two light heavyweight wars. Arreola will be the strongest puncher Adamek will have ever been in the ring against, and Adamek’s power probably won’t affect Arreola all that much.
Vitali Klitschko is one of boxing’s biggest punchers, and Arreola displayed a granite chin against a 6-7, 252-pound opponent who had knocked out 36 of his previous 39 opponents. Klitschko scored a technical knockout win against Arreola, but Arreola never went down during the fight before his corner men mercifully stopped the bout before sending Arreola out for the 11th round.
“I expect a tough fight, of course, and nothing else,” said Adamek, who has lost only to interim WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (29-0, 17 KOs, 1 NC). “All fights at this level are tough and one punch can change everything. I will fight smart and box. I’m not going to just stand there in front of him, but I won’t run, either.”
The 33-year-old Adamek didn’t run against Jason Estrada on Feb. 6 at Prudential Center, yet his unanimous decision win wasn’t all that convincing. The 237-pound Estrada stalked Adamek during much of the 12-round fight, and the former Olympian from Providence, R.I., has just four knockouts in 20 professional fights.
“He’s never faced a guy that hits like me,” Arreola, 29, said. “You can’t compare how he did against Jason Estrada with how he might do against me, because Estrada can’t punch. He got away with things against Estrada that he definitely will not be able to get away with against me. … He’ll feel my power and get hit like he’s never been hit before.”
Arreola anticipates having to “chase” Adamek tonight, even though Adamek promised he won’t be hard to find in a rare heavyweight fight that has generated excitement among boxing fans.
“I’m the big man in this fight and I’m going to bring it to him,” Arreola said. “I’m sure Adamek is going to stick and move, which is what he has done since he moved up from light heavyweight and cruiserweight. I’d be pleasantly shocked, but happy, if he tried to stand and fight and exchange with me.”
Arreola and his promoter, Dan Goossen, were pleasantly surprised Adamek accepted this fight after victories over Estrada (16-3, 4 KOs, 1 NC) and Polish rival Andrew Golota (41-8-1, 33 KOs, 1 NC), who was 41 when Adamek stopped him in the fifth round Oct. 24 in Lodz, Poland. But beating Arreola would move Adamek into prime position to land a title shot in his next fight, thus Adamek deemed the risk worthwhile.
He recognized, though, that he needed to prepare better for Arreola. That’s why he hired Shields and left his home in New Jersey to train in Houston for this fight.
They’ve worked extensively on Adamek’s head movement and using his jab, two improvements he must apply tonight if he is to record what would be his most impressive heavyweight victory.
“I don’t care what people say,” Shields said. “You can say anything, but it has to be done in the ring. We trained to prove everybody wrong. Our concern is not what other people say. Our concern is just for Tomasz to go out and win.”
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com.
