| Bad Left Hook Unofficial Scorecard | |||||||||||||
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Total |
| Adrian Diaconu | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | ? | ? | ? | 86* |
| Chris Henry | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | ? | ? | ? | 85* |
Official Decision: Adrian Diaconu UD-12 Chris Henry
The DonKingTV.com live stream cut out as Chris Henry was getting his gloves fixed in the 10th round of what was a competitive, see-saw battle where it looked to me like Diaconu's stamina might be failing him.
The best thing Henry did in the fight was keep it close. The best thing Diaconu did was not let Henry sustain any momentum. If Henry won a round, Diaconu came back and won the next one. I had it 5-4 for Diaconu through nine rounds, and was in line after eight with the official scoring, which we knew about since the horrible open scoring was in effect.
Diaconu wins the interim WBC light heavyweight title so that the WBC can make more money off of him, and it looks like he might fight Glen Johnson next. He's the mandatory (again) for Dawson, and I guess the idea is Dawson will take a fight with Tarver for more money and give up his belt. I wouldn't put all my eggs into that basket, because I don't think Antonio Tarver, talk as he may, is going to rush to fight Chad Dawson. Forgive me if I doubt the Showtime-dubbed Hall of Famer (gag), but this is a guy that ducked Danny Green less than six months ago. Come on.
| Bad Left Hook Unofficial Scorecard | |||||||||||||
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Total |
| O'Neil Bell | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 63 | |||||
| Tomasz Adamek | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 (TKO) | 69 | |||||
Official Result: Tomasz Adamek TKO-7 O'Neil Bell
Bell was down in the first, a very soft knockdown where his knee touched the canvas after a two-punch combo from Adamek. I gave him a very close third round, but other than that, this was a no-show performance from the former undisputed cruiserweight champion, who quit after the seventh round of what was becoming a very lopsided affair.
Bell never got going offensively, totally cut off by Adamek reverting to a more amateur-like style of fighting, moving in and out, landing when he got the look, stopping Bell from doing much of anything at all.
I'm wondering if Bell's heart is really in it anymore, or if the weight bothered him. Remember, he talked about going up to heavyweight. After this performance, that might be the only hope he has left. Adamek dominated with tactical boxing, came in with the right gameplan, and easily won what was expected to be a pretty good fight. All that time off had to have something to do with Bell's awful showing, but it wasn't just ring rust. He was lost. He looked sort of like Adamek did against Chad Dawson.
As for Adamek, this sets him up for a shot at IBF cruiserweight champ Steve "USS" Cunningham, which could be a really good fight. With Haye leaving, I think you have to consider the American Cunningham the best cruiser in the world right now.
The big one between "The Executioner" and "Joe Cool" is still to come, at 9:45 ET. We'll have live scoring and coverage within the post below, and will have continuing analysis in this post afterward and I'd guess in plenty of more stories throughout the weekend.