BoxRec

A quick mark your diary for February the 3th. Thomas Adameck defends his WBC Light Heavyweight title against top prospect Chad Dawson. Both of these fighters are undefeated and looked very good in 2006.

Calzaghe (and too a lesser extent Woods) have complained about the lack of name rivals. The way Adameck vs Briggs was recieved in the states and with Dawson the American. Not only will the winner 1) Pose a real threat. 2) Be fantastic for the legacy and 3) Be a big name stateside.

Tough fight to call, I think there is a huge case for the winner to be crowned the #1 in the devision and could be on the crest of a long and fruitful reign at the top.

Cannot wait.... Please Sky show this.

I agree, great fight.

If Dawson wins, he is a bonafide top 5, if Adamek wins, he has a solid case for #1 (as solid as Woods does, or even Hopkins who is 1-1 at the weight).

In fact I believe that the Adamek that we saw in the Ulrich fight and before the first Briggs fight is the best fighter in the division, with Dawson being one of the few who poses a real threat to him.

In the Briggs rematch, however, it looked like the layoff, court cases, and contemplation of retirement (out of frustration) took a lot out of him. I'll jot it down to ring rust for that one fight, but the defense, footwork, and head movement he showed in the Ulrich fight were completely gone in Briggs 2.

If we see the same Adamek in the ring that we saw in with Briggs in October, Chad will win the fight. I for one hope Don King hasn't messed up another potentially great career.

Still, it's a safe bet that we will see 2k7's best lightheavyweight emerge victorious on Feb 3rd.

It's on Showtime by the way, along with Chavez-Diaz.

Axe wrote:I agree, great fight.

If Dawson wins, he is a bonafide top 5, if Adamek wins, he has a solid case for #1 (as solid as Woods does, or even Hopkins who is 1-1 at the weight).

In fact I believe that the Adamek that we saw in the Ulrich fight and before the first Briggs fight is the best fighter in the division, with Dawson being one of the few who poses a real threat to him.

In the Briggs rematch, however, it looked like the layoff, court cases, and contemplation of retirement (out of frustration) took a lot out of him. I'll jot it down to ring rust for that one fight, but the defense, footwork, and head movement he showed in the Ulrich fight were completely gone in Briggs 2.

If we see the same Adamek in the ring that we saw in with Briggs in October, Chad will win the fight. I for one hope Don King hasn't messed up another potentially great career.

Still, it's a safe bet that we will see 2k7's best lightheavyweight emerge victorious on Feb 3rd.

hope you're right, axe!! the miami venue could work in dawson's favor, but adamek has had some of his best showings on american soil!!

Maybe the setting could give Dawson the benefit of the doubt.

But Dawson looks like the type of fighter that is going to be underrated & underappreciated - & possibly not too many favours.

Hopefully he is as good as I think he is. The win over Harding MAY have flattered him. We still don't know if he can take it physically versus the top light heavies - Harding did drop him. But the skills are definitely there.

I actually think Briggs is better equipped to take down Dawson. He's a very underrated aggressive fighter who managed to cut down the massive Stipe Drews. He had hell getting near the man but he dropped him something like 3 times. Educated brawler is Briggs, and the steadiness that Jonny Lewis criticises him for actually helps him against slicksters because he thinks about every move he makes.

@ calzaghe facing adamek, briggs, dawson or any of the new breed of LHWs....if he does fight any lhw, he will face a faded old one like tarver or jones, hopkins or johnson (best case scenario being woods) for big HBO money and we will all shake our heads and regret having thought it would ever turn out differently...

Dawson's a monster and I thought he could still make 168.

Axe wrote:
even Hopkins who is 1-1 at the weight).

Are you having a giraffe? Hopkins 1-1?

Hopkins beat the UNDISPUTED champ Tarver. Until someone bumps him off he is official #1, and how you can bring up losing his pro debut at Light-heavy some 18 years ago is not only irrelevent but laughable matey!

salaco wrote: @ calzaghe facing adamek, briggs, dawson or any of the new breed of LHWs....if he does fight any lhw, he will face a faded old one like tarver or jones, hopkins or johnson (best case scenario being woods) for big HBO money and we will all shake our heads and regret having thought it would ever turn out differently...

Hehe, exactly...

DavidPayne wrote:Dawson's a monster and I thought he could still make 168.

Yes, I thought one of his reasons for step up was to avoid facing his friend Jeff Lacy. Now it looks like Lacy's world title days are numbered perhaps he might think about the move again (depending on Feb's result).

Dawson is a much better pick to have a long world class career.

I wonder, will we ever see Calzaghe take on Briggs, Adamek, Dawson, anyone of that quality?

Would be interesting to see more britain vs Florida fights. Both have had something of a resurgence since 2004. World class boxing in Britian was at a bit of a low, with Calzaghe & hatton either pissing about, or threatening retirement. Until their 2 big wins. In Florida, everything seemed to pick up with Shaw's fighters like Winky, Lacy etc having big wins and starting to have home shows.

Very interesting fight, i back Adamek because of his toughness and experience but Dawson looks a class act. I actually think Adamek is No. 1 in the division right now, i think he would obliterate Tarver. Can't wait for Dawson-Adamek!

steve689 wrote:Very interesting fight, i back Adamek because of his toughness and experience but Dawson looks a class act. I actually think Adamek is No. 1 in the division right now, i think he would obliterate Tarver. Can't wait for Dawson-Adamek!

Agree there. Adamek has had much tougher opposition than anyone at LH in the last couple of years; Briggs twice and Ullrich. (still cant quite figure out why so many rankings have Erdei ahead of Adamek).

shoutout2u wrote:

Axe wrote:I agree, great fight.

If Dawson wins, he is a bonafide top 5, if Adamek wins, he has a solid case for #1 (as solid as Woods does, or even Hopkins who is 1-1 at the weight).

In fact I believe that the Adamek that we saw in the Ulrich fight and before the first Briggs fight is the best fighter in the division, with Dawson being one of the few who poses a real threat to him.

In the Briggs rematch, however, it looked like the layoff, court cases, and contemplation of retirement (out of frustration) took a lot out of him. I'll jot it down to ring rust for that one fight, but the defense, footwork, and head movement he showed in the Ulrich fight were completely gone in Briggs 2.

If we see the same Adamek in the ring that we saw in with Briggs in October, Chad will win the fight. I for one hope Don King hasn't messed up another potentially great career.

Still, it's a safe bet that we will see 2k7's best lightheavyweight emerge victorious on Feb 3rd.

hope you're right, axe!! the miami venue could work in dawson's favor, but adamek has had some of his best showings on american soil!!

Cheers shout out! I just remembered that Florida is Gary Shaw headquarters, and that Dawson is with GSP. Hopefully we get fair officiating there, otherwise it will be another case of Adamek being asked for a KO win going into the lions den, as with Ulrich in his first defence.

overhand_right wrote:

Axe wrote:
even Hopkins who is 1-1 at the weight).

Are you having a giraffe? Hopkins 1-1?

Hopkins beat the UNDISPUTED champ Tarver. Until someone bumps him off he is official #1, and how you can bring up losing his pro debut at Light-heavy some 18 years ago is not only irrelevent but laughable matey!

Tarver was actually very disputed. He was the consensus #1 but had a crappy reign for one and never held the linear title, so when he lost his belts all he had was the recognition of a magazine. Hopkins did beat the man for all intents and purposes but other than that he has literally done nothing at the weight (and yes, he is 1-1 at Lightheavy as far as I am aware). So if we have a young lion beating multiple top ten fighters on the side, Hopkins the lightheavyweight will soon fade from memory.

Taki... wrote:

steve689 wrote:Very interesting fight, i back Adamek because of his toughness and experience but Dawson looks a class act. I actually think Adamek is No. 1 in the division right now, i think he would obliterate Tarver. Can't wait for Dawson-Adamek!

Agree there. Adamek has had much tougher opposition than anyone at LH in the last couple of years; Briggs twice and Ullrich. (still cant quite figure out why so many rankings have Erdei ahead of Adamek).

Briggs has some tough opposition too. I felt he beat Adamek in that last fight. Not forgetting the 1st loss to Adamek which was competitive, & the decision win over the massive southpaw Drews. He's learned more in those fights than Erdei has in his entire reign.

Hopefully a Briggs-Woods fight comes off. It's been talked about now & again.

Axe wrote: Tarver was actually very disputed. He was the consensus #1 but had a crappy reign for one and never held the linear title, so when he lost his belts all he had was the recognition of a magazine. Hopkins did beat the man for all intents and purposes but other than that he has literally done nothing at the weight (and yes, he is 1-1 at Lightheavy as far as I am aware). So if we have a young lion beating multiple top ten fighters on the side, Hopkins the lightheavyweight will soon fade from memory.

Only very disputed in your mind bud. Like it or not Tarver beat Johnson and unified the Light-heavy championship.

Talking about Hopkins losing a 4 rounder at light-heavy in his DEBUT fight 18 years ago is beyond ridiculous, calling him 1-1 misleading to say the least.

viciousmaussa wrote:

Taki... wrote:

steve689 wrote:Very interesting fight, i back Adamek because of his toughness and experience but Dawson looks a class act. I actually think Adamek is No. 1 in the division right now, i think he would obliterate Tarver. Can't wait for Dawson-Adamek!

Agree there. Adamek has had much tougher opposition than anyone at LH in the last couple of years; Briggs twice and Ullrich. (still cant quite figure out why so many rankings have Erdei ahead of Adamek).

Briggs has some tough opposition too. I felt he beat Adamek in that last fight. Not forgetting the 1st loss to Adamek which was competitive, & the decision win over the massive southpaw Drews. He's learned more in those fights than Erdei has in his entire reign.

Hopefully a Briggs-Woods fight comes off. It's been talked about now & again.

I wouldn't fancy Woods chances against Briggs. Personally I think Woods is the weakest champion at LH by a considerable distance, he's only 1-1-1 against Johnson because he stayed at home for all 3 fights, and it must be said Glen Johnson is pretty overrated himself.

Taki... wrote:

viciousmaussa wrote:

Taki... wrote: Agree there. Adamek has had much tougher opposition than anyone at LH in the last couple of years; Briggs twice and Ullrich. (still cant quite figure out why so many rankings have Erdei ahead of Adamek).

Briggs has some tough opposition too. I felt he beat Adamek in that last fight. Not forgetting the 1st loss to Adamek which was competitive, & the decision win over the massive southpaw Drews. He's learned more in those fights than Erdei has in his entire reign.

Hopefully a Briggs-Woods fight comes off. It's been talked about now & again.

I wouldn't fancy Woods chances against Briggs. Personally I think Woods is the weakest champion at LH by a considerable distance, he's only 1-1-1 against Johnson because he stayed at home for all 3 fights, and it must be said Glen Johnson is pretty overrated himself.

I think Briggs would knock him out, but it would be an excellent fight

overhand_right wrote:

Axe wrote: Tarver was actually very disputed. He was the consensus #1 but had a crappy reign for one and never held the linear title, so when he lost his belts all he had was the recognition of a magazine. Hopkins did beat the man for all intents and purposes but other than that he has literally done nothing at the weight (and yes, he is 1-1 at Lightheavy as far as I am aware). So if we have a young lion beating multiple top ten fighters on the side, Hopkins the lightheavyweight will soon fade from memory.

Only very disputed in your mind bud. Like it or not Tarver beat Johnson and unified the Light-heavy championship.

Talking about Hopkins losing a 4 rounder at light-heavy in his DEBUT fight 18 years ago is beyond ridiculous, calling him 1-1 misleading to say the least.

So what? Roy Jones was disputed for those very same reasons--Maske and Hill unified belts, and then Hill and Michalczewski unified them again. Since Michalczewski was then unjustly stripped, the championship lies with Erdei, not Hopkins. Or so it can be argued. And there is nothing misleading about Hopkins being 1-1 at lightheavyweight, its simply the mans record at 175 lbs. He beat Tarver...very impressive for a guy his age/natural weight, but it doesn't make him a great Lightheavyweight by any stretch of the imagination.

Let's fce it, Hopkins-Tarver was one of the greatest boxing exhibitions of the modern era. However, it was also a CALCULATED GAMBLE - from a man who knew that his foe was dropping that bit more weight than usual AND whose trainer JD Jackson had SPARRED WITH TARVER & divulged his secrets.

To me, that is all very nice, it seals his legend, but it's not a sustained attack on light heavyweight boxing.

viciousmaussa wrote:Let's fce it, Hopkins-Tarver was one of the greatest boxing exhibitions of the modern era. However, it was also a CALCULATED GAMBLE - from a man who knew that his foe was dropping that bit more weight than usual AND whose trainer JD Jackson had SPARRED WITH TARVER & divulged his secrets.

To me, that is all very nice, it seals his legend, but it's not a sustained attack on light heavyweight boxing.

P4P it looks pretty nice too, coming up 2 weightclasses after back to back "losses". But I fully agree with your post.