Brick City Boxing

By Les Dowgier

Tomasz Adamek is now 1-0 in the heavyweight division after overwhelming and outclassing countryman Andrzej Golota over five one sided rounds.

In a filled Atlas Arena in Lodz, Poland, both fighters came into the ring looking relaxed but focused and ready to go. After a rather underwhelming undercard, the capacity crowd (which was said to be mainly pro-Golota) was brimming with excitement as the bell sounded to begin the first round. However, the pro-Golota crowd would have little to cheer from that point on.

[More:]

Though both fighters started off the first round a little bit tentatively, it wasn’t long before Adamek showed his superior speed, jumping on the much heavier Golota with a sizzling combination, throwing punches upstairs and down. Adamek, knowing Golota’s tendency to be cold and vulnerable in the early rounds of fights, continued picking his spots and unleashing more fast combinations as Golota simply covered up and tried to weather the storm. It wasn’t long before Adamek connected with a solid right hand, catching Golota flat footed and sending his larger foe to the canvas. Though Golota smiled as he got up and didn’t appear hurt, the knockdown being caused in large part due to a loss of balance, the mold for the fight had been cast.

Rounds two to four were more of the same, Adamek staying on the outside, out-jabbing Golota while circling around the ring, picking his spots and unleashing balanced combinations. Though it looked like Golota might have gotten back into the fight in the 3rd round as Adamek slightly took his foot off the gas, this momentum shift was short lived and Adamek soon reestablished his domination.

By the 5th round Golota looked frustrated, partly because he couldn’t catch his smaller and faster opponent, and partly because Adamek opened up a cut around Golota’s eye in an earlier round. As the round wore on, Adamek noticed Golota’s frustration and began attacking with more hard combinations. After landing a solid right followed by a left hook, Golota was down for a second time, this time looking at least a little frazzled and hurt. After Golota got up, Adamek’s finishing instinct took over and he jumped on Andrzej, unleashing a flurry of punches, backing Golota against the ropes. Golota, not punching back, began to turn his body away from Adamek, showing that he wanted no more, and forcing the referee to halt the bout.

This was certainly a great victory for Adamek. Though Golota showed that he was most definitely past his prime and didn’t demonstrate that he really wanted to go to war tonight, it was an important win for Adamek, as he finally beat the man he felt was unjustifiably the number one sports hero of so many Poles. Also, Adamek showed that if he does choose to move up to the glamour division of the sport, he should be a handful for most fighters. For now however, I hope Golota finally throws in the towel on his great (though controversial) career and Adamek returns to reign in the cruiserweight division.