Klitschko vs Adamek Undercard: Sadam Ali, Ola Afolabi, and More Featured
Saturday's big card in Wroclaw, Poland, is of course headlined by the WBC heavyweight title fight between Vitali Klitschko and Tomasz Adamek, but there are some familiar names on the undercard, too. The Polish broadcast, which is the first-ever PPV in the country, will see at least some of this action, and likely the RTL airing in Germany will as well. But for those watching HBO in the U.S. and Sky Sports in the U.K., you'll see just the main event.
Welterweights, 8 Rounds
Sadam Ali (13-0, 7 KO) vs Boris Berg (4-4-1, 3 KO)
This is a nothing fight for Ali, the flashy, 22-year-old Brooklyn prospect who is the main youngster on the Main Events roster, and is a familiar face on Adamek undercards in New Jersey. Ali is well past the level of this opponent, and really should be stepping up his competition soon. Berg did score a six-round draw with shot veteran Matt Zegan in 2010, but since then has gone 1-4.
Cruiserweights, 8 Rounds
Ola Afolabi (17-2-3, 8 KO) vs Lukasz Rusiewicz (9-10-1, 2 KO)
This is the fourth straight lousy fight for Afolabi following his competitive loss to Marco Huck in December 2009, and this is the worst of the four. At least the other guys had winning records against fluff competition.
Cruiserweights, 10 Rounds
Mateusz Masternak (23-0, 17 KO) vs Carl Davis (15-3, 11 KO)
Masternak, 24, is a Polish prospect and sorta-contender, and will be fighting in his hometown as the main feature of the undercard. Davis, 37, is from Evanston, Ill., and hasn't fought since December 2010, when he moved down about 40 pounds to become a cruiserweight after a TKO-5 loss in 2009 to DaVarryl Williamson.
Heavyweights, 10 Rounds
Andrzej Wawrzyk (22-0, 11 KO) vs Devin Vargas (18-1, 7 KO)
Devin Vargas, 29, was a 2004 Olympian for the United States, and lost in the second round of the tournament. He won the bronze at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo. His pro loss came to Kevin Johnson (TKO-6, and it was an ugly beating) in May 2009, and he hasn't fought since September 2009. Still, I guess it's reasonable that he could be an "upset" waiting to happen here, as Wawrzyk, 23, has dined on softies at home. Wawrzyk stands 6'5" and generally weighs around 230 pounds, while Vargas is 6'3" and was fighting around 220-225 back when he was active.
Middleweights, 8 Rounds
Mariusz Cendrowski (21-3-2, 8 KO) vs Anton Sjomkin (13-4, 11 KO)
Well, you don't generally hear a lot about pro boxers from Estonia, so here's Sjomkin, a pro boxer from Estonia.
Heavyweights, 8 Rounds
Johnathon Banks (26-1-1, 17 KO) vs Ivica Bacurin (8-1-1, 2 KO)
Well, you don't generally hear a lot about pro boxers from Croatia, so here's Bacurin, a pro boxer from Croatia. Banks was supposedly going to fight Fres Oquendo, but in a stunner that rivals Juergen Braehmer bailing on Beibut Shumenov or Juergen Braehmer bailing on Nathan Cleverly, Oquendo pulled out of the fight.
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No wonder boxing is dying in the U.S.
If HBO keeps showing main events only then boxers like Ali and Ofalabi will continue to have zero name recognition here except among the few hardcore fans (the ones that will track down a copy of the Polish or German broadcast).
We get to see plenty of prospects on Espn or Shobox
But those are crap fights. Fact is, because of their flat fee tv contract and the fact they cam sell out a stadium without support, they just don’t bother to err put decent undercard fights together.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
by Brickhaus on Sep 8, 2011 12:39 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
There is no way HBO would show fights like Ali’s and Ofalabi’s……..they’re both pathetic mismatches.
ESPN2 wouldn’t even show those fights.
Those fights aren’t up to the Telemundo level.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Sep 8, 2011 11:14 AM EDT up reply actions
Sadam Ali has fought on Adamek’s last two cards and this will be the third, so it seems their fates are intertwined. If Adamek were to beat Klitschko, then you can expect Ali to get a bigger opponent on Tomasz’ mandatory.
by punchbagblog on Sep 8, 2011 12:56 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
I figure he’ll also move into FNF main event status next year.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
Do you think he’s ready for that? For me, he needs a couple of tought fights before he becomes a crowd-draw
by punchbagblog on Sep 8, 2011 3:03 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Anthony Dirrell main evented a Friday Night Fights, so I don’t see why not.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
"Banks was supposedly going to fight Fres Oquendo...."
Oquendo may actually fight Andrew Golota in Chicago, where there are plenty of Puerto Rican and Polish fans to come out and cheer.

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