HBO has Adamek-Hopkins "back on the radar"

Dan Rafael mentioned in this week's Notebook that HBO President Ross Greenburg told ESPN.com that the proposed fight between Tomasz Adamek and Bernard Hopkins is "back on the radar."

Rafael also notes that the July 10 Shobox main event between Adamek and Matt Godfrey is off, because Showtime passed on the bout:

"I think [Adamek-Hopkins is] a good fight and we've talked a little about it," [Greenburg] said.

If it comes back together, HBO would prefer it happen in early 2010 given an already tight budget for the rest of 2009.

When the prospect of the fight in July died a few weeks ago, it left Hopkins with nothing in the works. Adamek, meanwhile, is scheduled to fight July 10 in Newark, N.J., but without a commitment from an American broadcaster.

Showtime and Main Events talked about Adamek-Matt Godfrey, but the network elected to pass on the "ShoBox" fight on Thursday.

According to Main Events, Adamek will still fight July 10 but without U.S. television. But because there is now less money in the pot, it means a further downgrade in opponent, possibly to club fighter Bobby Gunn.

It's a shame that Showtime elected to pass on the Adamek-Godfrey bout, but what can you do? It's not that attractive, not really worth the money, and nobody knows who the hell Godfrey is (which is not a knock on Godfrey, just a fact). They already bought Adamek-Banks; why buy what looks like a sequel when nobody really cares that much?

Adamek fighting Bobby Gunn, on the other hand, is frightening -- what if Gunn won? Cruiserweight world champion Bobby Gunn.

As for Adamek-Hopkins, I dunno. Delaying it until 2010 is crazy to me. Hopkins would have been off over a year assuming he doesn't fight again this year, and I don't know who he'd fight, plus the man would be 45 years old and moving up in weight yet again. I liked Adamek's chances to begin with, but putting that extra year on there really makes me favor him. ...potentially, anyway.

I'd love if the fight could come off this year, but if HBO doesn't have the budget, they don't have the budget.