In Newark, New Jersey, Tomasz Adamek won a unanimous decision in his second heavyweight fight, winning a wide unanimous decision over former U.S. Olympian Jason Estrada.  While Adamek won convincingly, it wasn't all smooth sailing, as the light hitting Estrada was able to weat out Adamek and cause him to run out of energy and almost get knocked out late in the fight.  The official scores were 115-113, 116-112 and 118-110, all in favor of Adamek.  Bad Left Hook officially had it 116-112 in favor of Adamek.

Early in the fight, Adamek showed off what seemed to be a vast difference in skill between the two fighters and managed to entertain with his defensive prowess as much as his offensive prowess.  During the first few rounds, Estrada was able to land some right hands and the rounds were fairly even, but as Adamek settled in, he dominated the middle rounds with strong body work and evasive actions.  However, Estrada managed to turn things around in the late rounds.  About halfway through round 9, Adamek gassed out, and Estrada took advantage for a few rounds, using his extra weight to impose himself on Adamek.  In the 11th round, Adamek got his wind back, and the two warred it out.  In the 12th round, Adamek mostly focused on not getting knocked out, while Estrada came forward and really tried to take it in what he thought was a close fight.  In the end, it was too little too late for Estrada, who might have had a chance had he applied more pressure in the early rounds.

One good thing to report is that Adamek really LOOKED like a heavyweight.  He weighed in at a solid 220 pounds, and it looked like almost all of that was muscle.  He was pretty ripped through the back and in his legs, which means two things.  First, there's no chance he'll ever be fighting at cruiserweight again.  The money just isn't there, and it would really drain him badly to make it back there now.  Second, it means he looks like a legitimate heavyweight.  I was skeptical that he was big enough to really make it at cruiserweight, and even more skeptical that he could make it at heavy, but he's gotten there.  I know this isn't a beauty contest, but he's now one of only four top heavies who looks like he takes training seriously. 

Despite looking like a heavyweight, he still fought like a light heavyweight.  Adamek feinted, moved in and out, fought off the back foot, kept his feet moving all fight and slipped lots of punches - things in short supply in the heavyweight division. 

On the other hand, late in the fight, his roots at a smaller weight became apparrent.  When Adamek was tired, "Big Six" was able to impose his weight on Adamek.  This may be a concern as he faces stronger heavyweights, as Estrada is generally acknowledged to be a light hitter.

Hopefully this leads to bigger and better things for Adamek.  Despite the fact that he's one of the most exciting fighters north of welterweight, he's had difficulty getting TV dates.  Now that he's at heavyweight instead of in a cruiserweight division that no network seems to have interesting in touting, he may have an easier time getting on those networks.  One rumored bout had been a matchup between Adamek and Cristobal Arreola.  Hopefully Main Events, Goosen-Tutor and HBO can make that one happen, because on paper it's the best heavyweight bout that's happened since Lennox Lewis faced Vitali Klitschko. 

On the undercard, Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quillin struggled to a wide unanimous decision against Fernando Zuniga.  While Quillin was obviously the quicker and stronger fighter, Zuniga frequently had little trouble connecting with Quillin, who appears to have stalled out a level below many expected him to get to.  On the other hand, he was shaking off some rust from a long layoff, and he started to look better late in the fight when Zuniga tired out.  Even as such, it was far from the dominant performance that the scorecards would suggest, and Quillin showed a number of fundamental flaws in his game, and both fighters did next to nothing for the last two rounds.  Here's to hoping he can stay more active and start to improve upon his game again.

Strap in, folks, this one could get wild. In the co-feature, welterweights Carlos Abregu and Richard Gutierrez will do battle, but the main event has all sorts of interesting implications, as rising DeMarco challenges the thunderous Valero in Monterrey. The show starts on Showtime at 9pm ET.

EDWIN VALERO		ANTONIO DEMARCO
	Main Event

According to Wirtualna Polska, Tomasz Adamek's next bout will be a heavyweight fight against former U.S. Olympian Jason "Big Six" Estrada. As previously announced, the matchup will take place in Newark, New Jersey on February 6.

Adamek, the former light heavyweight titlist and cruiserweight champ, will be staying at heavyweight, at least for now.  While he was facing an old and faded opponent, Adamek looked nothing short of spectacular in blitzing fellow Pole Andrew Golota last month.  This fight would present a completely different kind of challenge.  While Estrada is a big guy, he has next to no power, but is a very good boxer who can throw 80 punches a round.  Considering that Adamek has had fights where his workrate has been quite low, this makes Estrada somewhat of a dangerous fight for Adamek.  In both of Estrada's previous losses against Travis Walker and Alexander Povetkin, Estrada was the busier fighter, but his opponent won the fight by landing the much harder punches.  Adamek will need to keep that up if he wants to beat Estrada.

This is a solid step up in opponent at heavyweight for Adamek, and in many ways is a tougher fight than his previously rumored opponent, Hasim Rahman.  It's also a step back up for Estrada, who has convincingly beaten a bunch of guys on the journeyman circuit, but who has lost each time he stepped up against a contender level fighter.  Estrada never quite panned out the way the pundits had hoped, and this may be his opportunity to get back in the spotlight. 

At this point, there is no word as to whether Adamek will bulk up somewhat and abandon fighting at cruiserweight completely, of if he'll come back in around 215 so that he can drop back down if the right opportunity arises. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but one thing this intimates is that Adamek's team may be targeting David Haye rather than the Klitschkos.  Rahman, a long standup fighter who can throw good straight punches, may have been a step of preparation towards fighting a Klitschko brother, at least teaching him how to deal with a long jab.  Estrada on the other hand is an outside boxer who moves well, much more like a feather-fisted and less toned version of Haye.  But before he can face any titlist, Adamek has a lot more to prove in the weight class.