On the undercard of Lamon Brewster-Andrew Golota the WBC Light Heavyweight championship will be contested between WBC No. 1 Light Heavyweight contender Paul Briggs (Australia) and WBC No.4 contender Tomasz Adamek (Poland). A bout that probably isn’t generating much attention in the United States, as neither man is from the USA. Potentially this sleeper bout could be very explosive and exciting.  

I don’t know anything about Tomasz Adamek, I had never even heard of him before this bout was made. I have been informed that Adamek is a well-schooled boxer but he hasn’t fought top known fighters and it’s a bit of a mystery how he has earned his ranking. Briggs, on the other hand, has beaten four top ten WBC rated fighters (Glenn Kelly, Jorge Castro, Jesus Ruiz and Stipes Drew) to earn his number one ranking and he deserves this shot at the title. Paul had said many times that he wanted to face Antonio Tarver for the WBC title, but Tarver chose to face Glencoffe Johnson instead.

Briggs has had excellent preparation for this bout. Before leaving for the United States he participated in some very intense sparring sessions with Anthony Mundine,  excellent preparation going into a world title bout against an apparent slick boxer. Briggs has one punch knockout power in both hands and he does have good boxing skills too. Briggs has been training the last 6 weeks in Big Bear (California), under the watchful eye of Jack Mosley and if the reports I have been reading are correct, Briggs is very sharp and has been in awesome form, knocking out and beating up sparring partners. In addition, Mosley has apparently sharpened Briggs defensive capabilities too.

As the bout is taking place in Chicago, where there is a very large Polish community, Briggs is going to need his knockout power because I think it will be very hard for him to win a points victory over Adamek in front of what is basically a home crowd. Over the last couple of years Paul Briggs had been fairly calm and balanced in his interviews with various journalists. However, some of the quotes I have been reading leading up to this bout lead me to believe he is preparing to unleash all hell on Adamek to win this title. Briggs is an ex-kick boxer who has fought under Muai Thai rules where elbows and knees are used and he fought many of these fights in Thailand against locals, with a very hostile crowd chanting for his blood. Tomasz Adamek will want to have a very good plan and stick to it to win this bout because Paul Briggs wants this title badly and is looking to do severe damage in the process.

Tomasz Adamek and his trainer are very confident of out boxing Briggs after viewing Paul’s bouts with Jesus Ruiz & Stipes Drew. They feel his style will be very open to a skilled boxer. I think Briggs will blow away Adamek in very convincing fashion in front of his Polish fans. If Briggs is not fully prepared and tries to rely purely on his punching power, he may suffer the same fate as his friend and sparring partner Danny Green, who recently lost his WBC Super Middleweight title rematch with Marcus Beyer. Paul Briggs would be unwise to be over confident, as a confident Danny Green was beautifully out boxed by Marcus Beyer, an opponent he should have beaten. Somehow, I don’t think Briggs is underestimating Tomasz Adamek; the Sun Herald quoted that Paul Briggs has watched each and every one of Adamek’s 28 professional bouts and that is an indication of how seriously he is taking this bout.

This fight could well be a surprise package, with big fights coming up over the next month or so concerning an entertainment factor, and I am hoping that Paul Briggs will show his full potential in front of a large American audience. That will show everyone in the States why Antonio Tarver chose not to face him. If Briggs wins this in an exciting fashion, I’m hoping it will lead him to bigger and better fights; time will tell.  

5-16-2005