On August 21, the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey will play host to “The Big Challenge” fight card, presented by Main Events, Ziggy Promotions and X-Cel Worldwide. The main event will feature North Jersey’s adopted son, Tomasz “Goral” Adamek, against “Big” Michael Grant. Adamek (41-1, 27 KO), who is coming off an impressive majority decision victory against heavyweight contender Chris Arreola, will look to continue building his heavyweight resume and retain his IBF International Heavyweight Title when he takes on his 6’7” opponent. Grant (46-3, 34 KO), who has already defeated a Polish icon in Andrew Golota, will look to disappoint a sure to be packed Prudential Center with a victory over Adamek.
The card will also feature a junior middleweight bout between Colombia’s Joel Julio (35-4, 31 KO) and Philadelphia’s Jamaal Davis (12-6, 6 KO). Julio will look to bounce back from a violent KO loss that came at the fists of Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo back in April.
Also fighting on the undercard will be former United States Olympian Sadam Ali (8-0, 4 KO). Most recently, Brooklyn’s Ali defeated Julias Edmonds by third round TKO on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights, as part of the Zab Judah-Jose Santa Cruz undercard. “The Big Challenge” will also feature Paterson, New Jersey’s Jeremy Bryan. The two-time national Golden Gloves Champion, Bryan (13-1, 6 KO), will look to rebound from his only professional, which came back in April.
Adam “Baby Face’ Kownacki and Shemuel Pagan will join Ali as other Brooklyn fighters on the card.
Kownacki (4-0, 4 KO), who was born in Lomza, Poland, will return to the Prudential Center, where he viciously defeated Damon Clement by second round KO less than two weeks ago.
As for Pagan, August 21 will mark the date of his professional debut. The twenty-two year-old is a 5-time New York Golden Gloves Champion and has compiled an impressive amateur record of 85 wins and only 19 defeats.
Tickets for the event can be purchased at Prudential Center Box Office, by calling Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000 or www.PruCenter.com. Tickets are priced at $53, $78, $103, and $253 (ringside).
The bout will also be distributed as a Pay-Per-View card by Integrated Sports Media. It will be available on both cable and satellite Pay-Per-View via iN Demand, DIRECTV, Avail-TVN and DISH Network. The price for the event is listed at $29.99.
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NOTES FROM THE PRESS CONFERENCE: Kathy Duva:
“Tomasz is moving along in his career very nicely…This is Tomasz’s first PPV fight in the United States, we are pretty excited about that. His opponent is Michael Grant, 6’7” “Big” Michael Grant. The title of it is “The Big Challenge.” That is what this is going to be for Tomasz…the biggest challenge of his career, as he will fight the biggest opponent of his career.” Roger Bloodworth: “This is a very important fight for Tomasz…Grant is trained by a very good trainer, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. I haven’t seen Grant’s fights since he last lost (which was in 2003 to Dominick Guinn). He presents a difficult problem in that he’s 6’7”…he’s got a long reach. So what I think you are going to see is a hell of a fight.”
“I don’t want to give you the impression that this is rehearsal because I’m taking Michael Grant very seriously. He needs this fight desperately, so I don’t want to give the impression that he is taken for granted or he is a dress rehearsal. It is going to show us what Tomasz can do against an extremely tall guy.”
“In the heavyweight division, you don’t have tremendous knockout power, but you have to have the ability to hurt people with combinations. Evander Holyfield wasn’t a great one-punch [boxer], but he put enough punches together, he made you quit. That’s the way I see Tomasz. I think eventually he’ll put enough punches together he will make you quit.” “One advantage of his weight having settled in at 220-222 lbs. is that he is still able to carry his body around. He has very good legs. When you start getting up around 240-250 lbs., sometimes it’s tough.”
*For his last fight, Tomasz Adamek was trained by both Roger Bloodworth and Ronnie Shields. When Bloodworth left camp to train with David Tua, Adamek worked exclusively with Ronnie Shields. This time around, Shields was not figured into the Adamek equation at all.
In an interview with Beats, Boxing, and Mayhem, Ronnie Shields admitted he doesn’t really know why Adamek decided not to work with him again. “You’ll have to ask his manager Ziggy Rozalski,” Shields explained. “I got a call from someone else [not] Tomasz or Ziggy telling me that he wasn’t coming to Houston. I have no idea what happened.” I asked Bloodworth about it all and he replied by saying, “It doesn’t have to do with anything except that Tomasz wanted to train up here and Ronnie trains in Houston. Simple as that.”
Tomasz Adamek:
“I’m very excited to come back to the Prudential Center…I think we will make a good fight with Michael Grant, for my fans. I would like to invite everyone to see my fight in Newark. Thank you very much, see you August 21.” No other boxers spoke at the press conference. Michael Grant attempted to phone in from Las Vegas, but due to technical problems, it was inaudible.
