whiteathlete33
Hall of Famer
Adamek interview
<div id="line">Q&A: Tomasz Adamek</span></font>
"Klitschko needed Solis to be ready for me"Â</span></font></div>
By Przemek Garczarczyk
Photo: Kamil Krzaczyński
"Vitali Klitschko needed to fight Odlanier Solis to be prepared for
smaller, quicker fighters â€" like me. Three minutes in the ring did not
help WBC champ at all. Maybe this is why his manager wants to have him
fight again, in June, just three months before our scheduled fight in
Poland. But I wonder if this will actually happen"Â-said Tomasz Adamek
(43-1, 28 KOs), preparing for his upcoming fight against Kevin McBride
(35-8, 29 KOs) in Pennsylvania and sharing his thoughts about what
happened in Cologne and why upcoming months will decide which Klitschko
brother he will fight in his native country.</span>
Three time heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis suggested that
even though Vitali had no problem hitting Odlanier Solis during their
three minute affair in Cologne, you could tell that the WBC champion
isn't getting any younger.
Vitali didn't spend enough time in the ring to say anything
conclusive, but his reflexes when Solis tried some combinations were a
little bit off. I have to wait my turn to see it first hand, in the
ring.
Vitali was always a defensively minded fighter, knowing that with his size and weight he will never be a boxing ballerina.
This is his style, but in Cologne, Solis tried â€" somewhat
successfully â€" work around his outstretched left hand and avoid his
quick strikes from the right, although Solis' punches never cleanly
connected. I'm faster than Odlanier, I have a completely different way
of moving in the ring and nothing big will change until September. In
both mine and Vitali's style of fighting.
Vitali can still hit, and this element of boxing is the last
one that goes with age. But could a punch like that, (just a quick
strike, glancing first the glove and then the top of Solis' head), have
such a devastating consequence?
I strongly doubt it. I agree that that punch could possibly make him
stagger, but not completely take his legs like we witnessed during the
telecast from Germany. It was an injury that ended this fight, not "Dr
Ironfist's"Â unreal power. Nothing sinister here, just an injury. This is
why I always put so much attention to all-around physical fitness â€"
every part of your body should be perfectly trained if you want to
compete at this level. You just have to have a top specialist on your
side working with your head trainer, like in my case Roger Bloodworth
works with Tyler Woodman. There must have been something wrong with
Odlanier before â€" such a career-threatening injury seldom happens
without some warning signals. If that was the case, Solis' team should
have rescheduled the fight until Odlanier was 100 percent. Only once in
2005 against WBC light heavyweight champion Paul Briggs did I decide to
hide my injury, fighting 12 rounds with a broken nose a couple of weeks
earlier. No way will I do that again.
Hopefully Solis will be fine, but in the end nothing has changed, the Klitschko brothers versus you and David Haye.
I read somewhere, that after what happened in Cologne, only me or
David could rescue the heavyweight division. I'm ready to do it. The
second half of 2011 looks like great fun for all boxing fans around the
world!
Were you surprised with how quickly Klitschko's manager
announced that Vitali will fight again, most possibly in June, before he
fights you again in September in Poland?
Vitali needed Solis's fight to be prepared for smaller, quicker
fighters â€" like me. Three minutes in the ring did not help WBC champ at
all. Maybe this is why his manager wants to have him fight again, in
June, just three months before our scheduled fight in Poland. But I
wonder if that will actually happen. If Klitschko and Solis had a
12-round fight, we would have never heard about June. Now â€" if Vitali
wants to fight in June â€" he would have to start another training camp in
couple of weeks. Then the fight, a really short break, and again back
to the camp, because of our September fight? He's a 40-year old fighter?
My team is not surprised â€" our contract states that we have to know by
July 2,which one of the brothers I will fight. What they are doing
before July 2, is not my business. I still believe that Vitali will be
the man I will face in Poland.
Could you fight earlier, if Vitali's plans to fight in June do not work out?
No big deal, I could do it. My next fight against Kevin McBride is
just around the corner, on April 9. This is my task on hand and the only
task I can control. I will have a couple of 10-round sparring sessions,
and then we will start making everything come together. Zero stress and
quiet work in Poconos Mountains.
Forgetting upcoming media onslaught during open training session?
The toughest part of the fighters job is to hide what you really want to do during the actual fight when cameras are rolling (laughing)!
</font>
<div id="line">Q&A: Tomasz Adamek</span></font>
"Klitschko needed Solis to be ready for me"Â</span></font></div>
By Przemek Garczarczyk
Photo: Kamil Krzaczyński
"Vitali Klitschko needed to fight Odlanier Solis to be prepared for
smaller, quicker fighters â€" like me. Three minutes in the ring did not
help WBC champ at all. Maybe this is why his manager wants to have him
fight again, in June, just three months before our scheduled fight in
Poland. But I wonder if this will actually happen"Â-said Tomasz Adamek
(43-1, 28 KOs), preparing for his upcoming fight against Kevin McBride
(35-8, 29 KOs) in Pennsylvania and sharing his thoughts about what
happened in Cologne and why upcoming months will decide which Klitschko
brother he will fight in his native country.</span>
Three time heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis suggested that
even though Vitali had no problem hitting Odlanier Solis during their
three minute affair in Cologne, you could tell that the WBC champion
isn't getting any younger.
Vitali didn't spend enough time in the ring to say anything
conclusive, but his reflexes when Solis tried some combinations were a
little bit off. I have to wait my turn to see it first hand, in the
ring.
Vitali was always a defensively minded fighter, knowing that with his size and weight he will never be a boxing ballerina.
This is his style, but in Cologne, Solis tried â€" somewhat
successfully â€" work around his outstretched left hand and avoid his
quick strikes from the right, although Solis' punches never cleanly
connected. I'm faster than Odlanier, I have a completely different way
of moving in the ring and nothing big will change until September. In
both mine and Vitali's style of fighting.
Vitali can still hit, and this element of boxing is the last
one that goes with age. But could a punch like that, (just a quick
strike, glancing first the glove and then the top of Solis' head), have
such a devastating consequence?
I strongly doubt it. I agree that that punch could possibly make him
stagger, but not completely take his legs like we witnessed during the
telecast from Germany. It was an injury that ended this fight, not "Dr
Ironfist's"Â unreal power. Nothing sinister here, just an injury. This is
why I always put so much attention to all-around physical fitness â€"
every part of your body should be perfectly trained if you want to
compete at this level. You just have to have a top specialist on your
side working with your head trainer, like in my case Roger Bloodworth
works with Tyler Woodman. There must have been something wrong with
Odlanier before â€" such a career-threatening injury seldom happens
without some warning signals. If that was the case, Solis' team should
have rescheduled the fight until Odlanier was 100 percent. Only once in
2005 against WBC light heavyweight champion Paul Briggs did I decide to
hide my injury, fighting 12 rounds with a broken nose a couple of weeks
earlier. No way will I do that again.
Hopefully Solis will be fine, but in the end nothing has changed, the Klitschko brothers versus you and David Haye.
I read somewhere, that after what happened in Cologne, only me or
David could rescue the heavyweight division. I'm ready to do it. The
second half of 2011 looks like great fun for all boxing fans around the
world!
Were you surprised with how quickly Klitschko's manager
announced that Vitali will fight again, most possibly in June, before he
fights you again in September in Poland?
Vitali needed Solis's fight to be prepared for smaller, quicker
fighters â€" like me. Three minutes in the ring did not help WBC champ at
all. Maybe this is why his manager wants to have him fight again, in
June, just three months before our scheduled fight in Poland. But I
wonder if that will actually happen. If Klitschko and Solis had a
12-round fight, we would have never heard about June. Now â€" if Vitali
wants to fight in June â€" he would have to start another training camp in
couple of weeks. Then the fight, a really short break, and again back
to the camp, because of our September fight? He's a 40-year old fighter?
My team is not surprised â€" our contract states that we have to know by
July 2,which one of the brothers I will fight. What they are doing
before July 2, is not my business. I still believe that Vitali will be
the man I will face in Poland.
Could you fight earlier, if Vitali's plans to fight in June do not work out?
No big deal, I could do it. My next fight against Kevin McBride is
just around the corner, on April 9. This is my task on hand and the only
task I can control. I will have a couple of 10-round sparring sessions,
and then we will start making everything come together. Zero stress and
quiet work in Poconos Mountains.
Forgetting upcoming media onslaught during open training session?
The toughest part of the fighters job is to hide what you really want to do during the actual fight when cameras are rolling (laughing)!
</font>
