The light heavyweight division was in a transitional phase last year. The headliners at 175 pounds were all in the twilight of their careers. Roy Jones Jr, Antonio Tarver, and Glen Johnson are all 38 years old while the new light heavyweight champion is a young 42 in Bernard Hopkins. Tomasz Adamek and Zsolt Erdei (who was victorious last week) have made their cases as the present forces to be reckoned with in the divison but American Chad Dawson is emerging as the future of the division. Last night, Tomasz Adamek found out that Chad Dawson’s future is now.
Tomasz Adamek vs. Chad Dawson – WBC Light Heavyweight Title
Tomasz Adamek of Poland has been nothing short of exciting since becoming the WBC Light Heavyweight champion and has an unblemished record. He was in two all-action brawls with Paul Briggs and scored an impressive knockout of Thomas Ulrich. Chad Dawson is an undefeated southpaw that saw his potential realized with a unanimous decision over Eric Harding in June of last year. He also added Floyd Mayweather Sr to his corner and this is his first fight under the elder Mayweather’s tutelage.
Adamek is sporting the white and red trunks while Dawson is wearing the colors of the American flag on his trunks. If you weren’t close to the action, I bet it looked a lot like Ivan Drago vs. Apollo Creed. Adamek’s comparison to Drago stops at physcial appearance because he seemed to be timid in the early rounds. Dawson established his jab early and did some annoying pawing with his jab that left Adamek hesitant to engage. He was just sort of swirling it around. Adamek is known for his warrior mentality but it was not on display until later in the fight.
Dawson was racking up rounds as the fight went on and it became clear that Adamek was going to need the knockdown. The crowd was exceptional during this fight. It gave the bout a “big fight” atmosphere that the names alone couldn’t produce. Dawson was given credit for a knockdown in the seventh round when a body punch followed by a trip caused Adamek to hit the canvas. Since Adamek was hit, the ref felt it necessary to call the knockdown even though the trip was the reason that the champ went down.
Adamek became much more aggressive in the championship rounds. Dawson had built a huge lead on the cards and could have coasted but I think the raucous crowd spurred him on to keep going in the fight. Adamek caught Dawson with a straight right in the tenth round that put the challenger down. Dawson quickly got to his feet but may have been reconsidering the coasting strategy during the standing eight count. Dawson was certainly more cautious in the final two rounds but not enough to rile the crowd. Adamek failed in his attempt at a late-round knockout and a new champion was crowned in Chad Dawson by unanimous decision.
Other Results From The Week
– Dominick Guinn finished Zuri Lawrence with a second round TKO. Lawrence is famous for getting KTFO’d by Calvin Brock so this isn’t something new for him.
– Laila Ali traveled to South Africa for her title defense against Gwendolyn O’Neil. It took longer for Laila to walk to the ring than it did for her to beat O’Neil. The fight was stopped less than one minute into the first round.
– Cassius Baloyi regained a title he never should have had to begin with. Baloyi regained the IBO Super Featherweight Title with his third round TKO of Nazareno Gaston Ruiz.
– Cruiserweight Wayne Braithwaite got back on the winning side of things by scoring a seventh round TKO of Gustavo Enriquez. Braithwaite had dropped his previous two fights.
– Cory Spinks retained his IBF Light Middleweight Title with a unanimous decision over Rodney Jones.
– Julio Diaz kept his IBF Lightweight Title when Jesus Chavez collapsed due to a knee injury in the third round. This was a tough break for Chavez.
– Super middleweight Sakio Bika defeated Andre Thysse by unanimous decision.
– Lovemore N’dou won his light welterweight title eliminator over Naoufel Ben Rabah when the bout was halted after the 11th round.
– Famous Tomasz Adamek rival Paul Briggs was victorious in a unanimous decision over Rupert van Aswegen.
Spit Bucket
Please, no more emails about when the Spit Bucket will make a grand return. Here’s some links to other things you should be reading:
Welcome Mike Nichols to the Inside Fights staff. He has a wonderful review of all the happenings at UFC 67.
Scott Newman does great reviews for our site as well. Check out his review of Cage Rage 15.
Worried about Sean Salmon after his stiff KO from Rashad Evans? Kevin Wong has an update for you.
These crazy kids and their podcasting.
