On Thursday night, boxing fans at
Newark New Jersey's Prudential Arena were treated to 2008's
fight of year. The Polska faithful were in the house cheering,
chanting, and thrilled with delight as their hero, Poland
by way of Jersey City, New Jersey's Tomasz Adamek outlasted
Steve "U.S.S." Cunningham to earn his IBF cruiserweight
title.
The lanky Cunningham did his best
to thwart Adamek's neverending rush earning a number of
close rounds on the judges' official cards. The former
Navy man used a long jab, wide hooks, and frequent movement
to keep Adamek off him. Cunningham also managed to hurt
Adamek in the 4th and nearly had him on the canvas. However,
too many punches gassed Cunningham and a perfect straight
punch from Adamek sent him to the canvas to close out
the round. The knockdown was the second of three knockdowns
Adamek managed on Cunningham in the fight and created
a deep enough hole for Cunningham that the Pole was able
to pull out a split decision victory.
For his part Adamek ate a huge number
of punches in order to get inside and unload on the tricky
Cunningham. But with his strong chin Adamek weathered
the storm as he kept Cunningham on the defensive and peppered
him with thudding straight rights and lefts. Though he
ran out of steam the last four rounds Adamek's determined
attack earned him a close yet well deserved victory.
Can you say, "rematch?"
With Adamek's determined mental fortitude, hard punching
power, and pourous defense he is always a thrill to watch.
Combine that with Cunningham's never say die will, awkward
movement, and tricky offensive assault and a return bout
is almost guarenteed to be exciting.
Gotta love these two warriors!
Adamek moves to
36-1 (24 KO)
Cunningham falls
to 31-2 (11 KO)
Here is the official
scoring of the fight:
116-110, 115-112,
112-114 (2 judges Adamek, 1 judge Cunningham)
Cunningham was down
once in each of rounds 2, 4 & 8
My Scoring of the
Fight:
| Round |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
Total |
| Adamek |
9 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
10 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
114 |
| Cunningham |
10 |
8 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
10 |
8 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
112 |
|
