Tomasz Adamek tuned up for a September 10th showdown with WBC Heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko with a workmanlike twelve round pounding over Kevin McBride in front of over 7,300 mostly Polish Adamek supporters at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
It was obvious early who this fight would go as Adamek had a what looked at times a “Light Years” speed advantage over the slow, plodding and and even confused McBride as Adamek landed combination s as Adamek concentrated in working the flabby body of McBride. The combination’s were three, four and five punches at a time as it was clear what Adamek was trying to do. It looked like all McBride wanted to do was push a weak jab and lean on Adamek in an effort to tire him out. McBride started to bleed under the right eye as early as round four.
A round later, McBride began to bleed from his forehead but neither cut bothered the big Irishman during the fight. Every once in a while McBride, who did walk Adamek down for most of the fight would land a punch but with the punches that could be timed by a sun dial Adamek was able to move enough to take most of the sting of McBride’s punches.
Over the last half of the fight it was more of the same that saw Adamek move in and out and use his legs to keep away from McBride. For all of his lack of shape, McBride showed good endurance as he didint look much more fatigued then Adamek, who showed signs of tiredness which was mostly due to all the moving and the many times that McBride would lay his ample body on top of the top contender from Poland. McBride was deducted a point in round seven for excessive holding. Adamek closed the show as he landed some hard punches and the two exchanged for most of the final round with neither man ever looking like they would be hurt or knocked down.
The fight, which was billed “The Last Big Hurdle” for Adamek as he jumped over McBride with ease as he won by scores of 120-107; 119-108 and 119-1108.
Adamek, 215 lbs of Jersey City, NJ will via Gilowice, Poland will return to the homeland for what will be the biggest sporting event in the history of that European country when he takes on Adamek with a record of 44-1.
McBrdie, (every bit of) 285 lbs of Brocton, MA via Ireland is now 35-9-1.
The co-feature saw rising Welterweight and former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali make easy work of Javier Perez by scoring a third round stoppage in a scheduled eight round bout.
Ali wasted no time by landing a left hook that sent Perez to the floor in round one. In round three, Ali landed a huge left hook that flattened Perez as he laid on the canvas for several moments.
The time of the stoppage was 2:40 of round three for Ali, 149 1/2 lbs of Brooklyn, NY who remains undefeated at 12-0 with seven knockouts. Perez, 146 1/2 lbs of Ponce, PR is now 8-5.
Andrzej Fonfara warmed up the large Polish contingent by taking out Ray Smith in round four of an eight round Light Heavyweight bout.
Fonfara landed some nice punches over the first three round and then really turned up the heat in round four as he landed a big right on the ropes that rocked Smith. he followed that up with a big combination that sent Smith to the canvas. Fonfara landed a big right off the ropes that was followed by a perfect left that sent Smith down for the ten count at 1:09 of round four.
Fonfara, 175 lbs of Chicago is now 17-2 with eight knockouts. Smith, 179 lbs of Little Rock, Arkansas is now 9-6.
Joselito Collado remained undefeated by scoring a six round split decision over Rafael Lora in a Featherweight.
Collado was cut early in round one over the right eye and it seemed to have bothered him just a tad but the cut was controlled nicely as the fight went on. The two fighters engaged in nice exchanges with each taking turns getting through with left hooks.
The fight was very close but Collado was a bit more active and scored the split decision victory by scores of 59-54 and 57-56 while Lora took a card 57-56.
Collado, 128 lbs of Queens, NY is now 12-0. Lora, 128 1/2 lbs of Irvington, NJ is now 11-4.
Jose Peralta beat up Eber Luis Perez and stopped him in round three of a scheduled six round Jr. Welterweight bout.
Peralta rocked Perez with a hard right in round two and followed up with a combination that sent Perez to the canvas. Peralta opened up round three with a hard left that started blood flow from Perez nose.
Peralta dropped Perez with a right hand later in the round. With Perez down, his corner decided to stop the bout at 2:49 of round three.
Peralta, 142 lbs of Jersey City, NJ is now 6-1 with four knockouts. Perez, 136 lbs of Cartegena, Colombia is now 12-20
Vinny O’Brien scored a fourth round stoppage over Shakir Aquel Dunn in a scheduled four round Welterweight bout.
It was a tough bout with both guys landing good shots for which O’Brien, who has a terrific fan base, got in the better shots.
In round four, O’Brien landed some thudding shots that ended with a hard combination on the ropes and the bout was stopped just nine seconds before its scheduled conclusion.
O’Brien, 146 ½ lbs of East Hanover, NJ is 2-0 with both wins coming via stoppage. Dunn, 145 lbs of Newark, NJ was making his pro debut
