It’s Christmas! And you greedy little tikes want more boxing? Haven’t you had enough this year? Well I guess you’ve all been very good, so you get one more excellent fight. But that’s it! Well OK, maybe you can a few a few little stocking fillers as well.
- Tomasz Adamek vs. Steve Cunningham, Saturday, NBC, Bethlehem Pa. What a nice little Christmas present – a heavyweight rematch of one of the best cruiserweight fights of all time. It’s been four long years, 18 hard fights and three losses between the pair since Adamek (47-2, 29 KO) nipped past Cunningham (25-4, 12 KO) in a war at New Jersey’s Prudential Center in 2008. Despite calls for a rematch at the time, the two men went down different paths, with Adamek moving up to campaign at heavyweight and Cunningham opting to continue his cruiserweight career in Germany. Now that they once again share a weight division, we get a rematch four years in the making. The thing is, I can’t see it being very competitive. The Adamek-favoring dynamic of the first fight – the faster Cunningham piles up points, the harder punching Adamek hurts him – will only be exacerbated at heavyweight. Cunningham will be a little slower; Adamek will punch a little harder. While both men have miles on the clock, Adamek is the more resilient – Cunningham’s chin has always been a liability. That said, I think this will be hugely entertaining. The Adamek and Cunningham of 2012 will be slower, harder and more grizzled than the Adamek and Cunningham of 2008. Expect fireworks. On the undercard, once-beaten heavyweight prospect Tor Hamer (19-1, 12 KO) fights the undefeated Vyacheslav Glazkov (13-0, 9 KO) of Ukraine.
- The Rest. Russian cruiserweight and notorious abuser of geriatrics Denis Lebedev (24-1, 18 KO) fights Santander Silgado (23-0, 18 KO) of Colombia Monday in Russia. Silgado is young AND undefeated (though against unspectacular opposition), a real turn up for the books when it comes to Lebedev opponents. Silgado will also have Busta Rhymes in his corner… Kelly Pavlik victim Will Rosinsky (16-2, 9 KO) moves up to light heavyweight to fight Otis Griffin (24-10-2, 10 KO) on Thursday. The fight will be off TV in New York, but if you live in the Tri-State area you may still be able to hear the banshee-like shrieking of Rosinsky’s wife Jennifer… TeleFutura is will show Miguel Cotto’s cousin, Abner (15-0, 6 KO) taking on journeyman Sergio Perez (27-13, 18 KO) in Puerto Rico on Saturday night.
