Boxing Event at the
Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey
By James “Ricky” Coward
February 28, 2009
(FEB 28) The International Boxing
Federation (IBF) cruiserweight title was up for grabs Friday night as
IBF Cruiserweight World Champion, Tomasz Adamek (36-1, 24 KOs) put his
title belt on the line against
undefeated, IBF #8th Ranked Johnathon Banks (20-0, 14KO’s) in a 12
round championship bout.
In front of a huge crowd of spectators and fans most of which were
there for the champion Adamek, both fighters entered the ring looking
confident and in great shape.
At the opening bell both fighters calmly approached each other at the
center of the ring, Banks clearly the bigger man, but as we all know,
in sport of boxing size doesn’t matter.
The first round was the typical feeling out round for both fighters,
with Adamek and Banks both staying on the outside jabbing and moving
cautiously, content with standing in front of each other, so close at
times that they were stepping on each others toes. This was the
“Tone” of the fight for the first five rounds. Banks showed some good
boxing skills during those rounds landing several solid right hands.
Banks rocked Adamek with a big left hook in the fourth round, but
could not do much more as Adamek recovered and fought back. But things
began to to change in the sixth round, when Adamek began to double his
jab and attack Banks body. Adamek landed a number of big left hooks to
the right side of Banks body at the end of the sixth round and was
clearly pressuring the bigger man. Adamek picked up where he left off
when the bell rang to start the seventh round, applying methodical
pressure with good combination punching to the head and body of Banks.
When the bell rang for round eight, Adamek came out and again began
to systematically attack Banks with combinations, doubling his left
hooks to the head and body, applying “Tactical” pressure, which set up
a superb right hand that hit Banks right on the chin and sent him to
the canvass with a 1:41 left in round eight. Banks clearly hurt,
courageously pulled himself off the canvass on wobbly legs to beat the
ten count,,, after checking the fallen fighter, the referee allowed
Banks to continue and he bravely attempted to engaged Adamek near the
center of the ring, with Adamek moving in and landing several big
punches that staggered Banks and knocking him into the corner at which
point the referee seen enough and stepped in stopping the fight with a
1:30 seconds left in round eight.
Tomasz Adamek proved tonight that he is not only the IBF champ, but he
is indeed the “Real Deal” in the cruiserweight division. I mention in
my pre-fight article, that he had improved with his “Technical” boxing
skills and tonight he showed that he could make “Tactical” adjustments
during a fight, not an easy thing to do in the heat of battle, but is
one of the things that separate a “Good” fighter from an “Elite” level
fighter.
