The Polish National Anthem — Mazurek D?browskiego — recalls a time when Polish General Jan Henryk D?browski and thousands of his Polish soldiers marched alongside the great Napoleon Bonaparte aiding in his conquests. The patriotic hymn serves as a reminder to Poles that they will always fight for their existence and for their pride.

On Saturday night in Newark, New Jersey’s Prudential Center, Tomasz “Goral” Adamek played the part of General D?browski as 10,972 Polish fans flocked to the Garden State’s largest city to be by their fighter’s side. Just moments before Adamek and his opponent, “Big” Michael Grant, made their way to ring, everyone in the arena outfitted in the red and white of Adamek’s homeland partook in what was possibly the loudest rendition of Mazurek D?browskiego ever heard on this side of the Atlantic.

Saturday night did not mark my first time at the Prudential Center, nor was it my first time at an Adamek fight — or should I say, event. But as I walked around the concourse, making my way to section 128, I noticed an extra “buzz” in the building. Maybe it was because Adamek had not fought in “Brick City” since February or maybe it was because his recent victory over Chris Arreola on HBO gave his already enthusiastic fan-base a little extra excitement. But whatever the reasons were, Adamek’s Polish fans were chanting and singing louder than remembered from the moment security patted them down and the ticket scanner admitted them entrance.

Having recently attended a big fight as part of the general populous and not as a member of the media — Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz II — I immediately picked up on one essential difference in the type of crowd Adamek draws as opposed to other prizefighters (besides the obvious fact that nearly all of Adamek’s supporters are of Polish descent). What I marveled at was how many of Saturday’s fight-goers came with their families. The crowd, which banded together to create rippling sea of red and white was made up of men, women, and children of all ages. It was clear that not all of the fans were bitten by the fistic bug – not that it is a requirement to attend a fight. However, the fans Adamek attracts are proud and loyal Polish fans who have been starved of a superior athlete for quite some time and are jumping at the chance to see one of the better boxers in their countries history.

“It is not often that they [Polish fans] have an event like this,” said Max Krysztopowicz, who made the trek up from Philadelphia to watch “Goral” fight. “This is them venting.”
Call it what you will — and perhaps Krysztopowicz is right — the Poles are a deprived people when it comes to success in the world of sports. The White Eagles (Polish national soccer team) have had no worthy accomplishments of late and the country has been lacking an international superstar since Pope John Paul II. Perhaps Adamek’s fights truly are a venting of sorts for Poles, but it is a venting that I encourage all fight fans to witness and enjoy first hand.

Everything is interesting about the make-up of an Adamek event — from the diversity of the fans, with regards to age and gender, to the merchandise being sold. For the few who entered the Prudential Center without some sort of Polish scarf draped around their shoulders, Main Events was selling a half red, half white, scarf with the words “TOMASZ ‘GORAL’” on one side and “ADAMEK” on the other for twenty-five dollars.

Eventually, after taking in the sights around the concourse of “The Rock”, I rode the escalator up one level and climbed the steps to section 128.
Perched high atop “The Rock” I nestled into my seat in the last row of the arena just moments before the opening bell of the night’s first bout. Admittedly, my seat wasn’t the best to view a fight, but luckily for me, watching the crowd throughout the night was equally as entertaining as some of the bouts — and for that, I arguably had the best seat in the house. From the time the first bell rang at 7:30 pm to the time just before the national anthems were played at 11:00 pm, I watched the arena under my feet transform into Lil’ Poland.
With booze flowing from taps to Polish lips all night long, the electric crowd was up on its feet waving the flag and flying the White Eagle high in the air. As the crowd restlessly awaited the main event, the DJ at “The Rock” — knowing his audience — played “Jeste? Szalona” by Boys — a hit Polish song circa 1997 that sent the crowd into a frenzy. At times, between the bouts, it felt more like I was at a club in Warsaw as opposed to a boxing event.

After Michael Grant received a steady stream of boos from the Adamek faithful, “Pamietaj” by Funky Polak — “Goral’s” entrance song and a song about Polish immigration to the United States blared through the arena’s speakers and out emerged Adamek.

Throughout the twelve round battle, fans cheered “Adamek! Adamek!” “Goral! “Goral!” and “Polska!” “Polska!”, not once taking a round off. When the final bell rang to conclude the entertaining fight, the fans erupted once more, chanting “Dzi?kuj?! Dzi?kuj?!” Translation: “Thank You!” “Thank You!”
The appreciation that Adamek’s fans show toward their fighter stretches beyond his accomplishments inside the ring. They appreciate what he has done for their homeland and they show it by flocking to Newark every time he steps into the ring to cheer him on.

Adamek’s fights at the Prudential Center are events. They are a five hour party with endless booze, music, and dancing. All five times he has fought at “The Rock”, the party has culminated with a referee raising “Goral’s” hand to recognize the Pole as the winner. A unanimous decision victory against Grant has put Adamek in a situation to continue to advance toward his goal of facing a titleholder. There is little doubt that a bout between him and David Haye would be entertaining and it is up for debate as to whether Adamek is ready for a meeting against a Klitschko brother. But rumors have it that “Goral’s” next bout may take place on November 6th in Atlantic City — a bout that if it did happen, would not be for a title. Either way, his win over Grant has put him one step closer to realizing his dream.

Adamek, not unlike General D?browski and Bonaparte, has set out on a conquest of his own. But instead of being rewarded with the takeover of precious territories, Adamek, a former world champion at light heavyweight and cruiserweight, hopes he will one day lay claim to a world heavyweight title for his efforts. While only time will tell whether “Goral” will realize his dream, one thing is for certain: Like D?browski, Adamek has legions of Polish followers that will march in lockstep with and support their Polish brethren whomever and wherever he fights next.

You can follow Kyle Kinder at Twitter.com/KyleKinder

Photos by Claudia Bocanegra

On Tuesday, Erik Morales and his team held a press conference to promote his September 11 bout with Willie Limond. While the fight will take place in Mexico City, Mexico, the press conference was held in Harrison, NJ at Red Bull Arena. 15Rounds.com was there to see what “El Terrible” had to say.

Part 2

When the sun arose on the morning of September 26, 2009, Cristobal “Nightmare” Arreola was an undefeated prospect, sporting an unblemished record of 27-0, and about to fight for a world heavyweight title against Vitali Klitschko. He was continually built up by and showcased on HBO and was arguably the best American-born heavyweight. By the time the clock struck midnight at the end of that autumn day, Arreola hoped to be the first world heavyweight champion of Mexican descent.

Fast forward just ten months to present day and Arreola is somewhere in southern California, walking around in his 256 pound body with two injured hands, two losses on his record, and no significant titles.

Presumably before then — but ever since the night of September 26, 2009, Arreola has not taken his career seriously.

From the opening bell against Vitali Klitschko, it was clear that Arreola would struggle against the experienced champion. Although pouring his heart out in the ring, Arreola was never able to penetrate the elder Klitschko’s jab-built wall and was continually pummeled with the 6’7” Ukranian’s pulverizing lead left hooks.

After ten rounds of boxing for the WBC heavyweight title, Henry Ramirez, Arreola’s trainer, told referee Jon Schorle ‘no mas.’ There would be no eleventh round and subsequently, no WBC title for Arreola.

During an expletive-laden post-fight interview with HBO’s Larry Merchant, Arreola burst into tears, assuring his fans and viewers that he never wanted to give up and that he “trained his a** off” for the fight.

At the time, nobody had the right to question Arreola’s words. Sure, his stomach was soft and 251 pounds was too much for his 6’4” frame, but up until that point, he had been successful in every professional bout of his career.

It wasn’t until his next fight in December of that year that it became clear Arreola was less than fully committed to his career as a boxer.

Picking up its fallen warrior, HBO came calling for Arreola, putting his bout between he and Cruiserweight-bound, Brian Minto on the Sergio Martinez-Paul Williams undercard in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Embarrassingly, the man who trained his a** off in preparation for his title fight against Klitschko weighed in for his ‘rebound’ fight at a whopping 263 pounds. In two years, during the time between his fight against Chazz “The Gentleman” Witherspoon to the bout against Minto, Arreola ballooned from 239 to 263 pounds.

His fight against the undersized Minto may have actually been the one fight where Arreola needed the extra weight to keep him grounded after Minto continually landed his strongest punches on Arreola’s chin.

After three-plus rounds of barroom brawling, the considerably bigger Arreola dropped Minto for the final time, prompting referee Eddie Cotton to step in and call a halt to the bout.

After the Minto fight, HBO tapped Arreola once again, this time pitting him against the Polish-born, Jersey-based former world champion, Tomasz Adamek. Even though a fight in Newark, New Jersey, Adamek’s home arena, would have drawn about eight thousand or so more fans than Arreola’s home arena in Ontario, California, HBO sent its crew & cameramen to the west coast to watch its fighter take on the aspiring heavyweight.

In advance of his fight with Adamek, Ramirez told the media that he hoped his fighter would weigh in at about 240 pounds — what Ramirez claimed was Arreola’s best fighting weight.

Fat chance, Henry.

Arreola weighed in at a heavy 253 pounds. Having dropped a majority decision to Adamek in front of his hometown fans, Arreola was now clinging to a number ten ranking in Ring Magazine’s top ten heavyweights in the world.

After the Adamek fight, Ramirez informed the media that Arreola had missed multiple days of camp at a time. It showed.

This past Friday night, on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights, Arreola (29-2, 25 KO) bested Manuel Quezada (29-6, 18 KO) by unanimous decision.

Coming into the fight, Arreola gave us his same old speech about how hard he worked in prepping for his upcoming bout. This time, Arreola claimed, he only missed two days of training and one of them was because his house almost caught on fire. Further, Arreola stated that Ramirez has had him “boxing” more this camp — working on his skill set.

But just because one is physically at camp does not necessarily translate into a fighter giving everything he has day in and day out during ‘practice.’ At the end of the day, Arreola gained weight during his camp, tipping the scales at 256 pounds for the Quezada fight.

Although Arreola canvassed his opponent on three separate occasions, the “Nightmare” wasn’t able to deliver the finishing blow that people have become accustomed to in Arreola victories. Unable to get Quezada out of there, Arreola had to settle for the unanimous decision in a fight that failed to showcase either Arreola’s power or boxing ability. If possible, while Arreola’s win tally rose, his stock fell.

The choices Arreola have made outside of the ring — whether it be from a dietary or a training standpoint — have not been to his benefit.

But moreso than anything written above, Arreola may have best summed up his attitude toward his career when he said, “If Michael Phelps can smoke pot, why can’t I have a beer?”

When the sun goes down on August 18, 2010, the twice- defeated Arreola will be nursing his broken hand and hopefully be thinking of ways to repair his career.

PHOTO BY Claudia Bocanegra

“He can fight on the inside, he can fight on the outside, and he has fast hands…I think he can win a world title…and I think it will be his character that will propel him there.”

When that praise is heaped on a fighter by the one and only Teddy Atlas, it should sound the alarm for boxing fans to take notice.

The man Atlas is praising and who fight fans should be aware of is Brooklyn, New York’s Shemuel Pagan, who makes his professional debut August 21 in Newark, New Jersey as part of the Tomasz Adamek-Michael Grant undercard.

On Tuesday at the Mendez Gym on the corner of 5th Ave. and W. 28th St. in Manhattan, Pagan and his team held a press conference to formally announce that the twenty-two year old will forego his amateur status and turn pro in less than two weeks.

Coming to boxing later than most professional fighters, Pagan picked up the sweet science at age thirteen. Trained by his father, who was a former kickboxing and karate champion in his own right, “Shem” quickly became a rising star in the New York City amateur boxing scene.

From 2006 to 2010, Pagan rattled off five straight New York Golden Gloves Championships. In doing so, he joined arguably the greatest amateur fighter of all-time, Mark Breland, as the only other fighter who has won five New York Golden Gloves Championship necklaces.

Atlas put it best when he bluntly stated, “You don’t win five Golden Gloves if you don’t know how to fight.”

But digging deeper into what we can expect from “Shem” stylistically — other than the fact that he knows how to fight — the Puerto-Rican American insists he doesn’t fit one mold.

“I have a lot of versatility,” said Pagan. “I can bring it to a fighter, I can stay in the pocket and slip. I have a style similar to Roberto Duran mixed with a little bit of Sugar Ray Leonard with my speed and my slickness. I can be an aggressor or I can be a boxer because I know how to move.”

In order to continue the success enjoyed as an amateur — compiling a record of 85 wins and 19 losses — Pagan will certainly need to look a little like Duran and a little like Leonard. But as Atlas suggested, it might be Pagan’s character — along with his superior talents — that ultimately propels him to a earning a world title.

Midway through Pagan’s speech at Tuesday’s press conference, he mentioned the financial stress that being an amateur boxer causes. Having spent the last eight-plus years fighting for no financial reward, Pagan will finally earn a payday for his efforts.

“Everybody knows this is my first professional fight and I’m finally going to make some money,” Pagan said with a huge smile. “I’m making $1,000 and what I am doing is donating it to the Teddy Atlas Foundation [Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation].”

Pagan went on to explain, “The reason why I am donating it is because I follow the Old Testament — I’m a religious person. When God blesses you with anything, he commands that you give the first fruits to him. So when you give to the poor and needy, you are giving to God…I want to help God’s people.”

Pagan, who subscribes to the Jewish faith, has that in common with fellow Brooklyn boxers, Zab Judah, Dmitriy Salita, and Yuri Foreman.

While he shares a common faith and profession with the fighters above, he joins a long list of prizefighters who hail from New York City’s most populous borough and will now be tasked with living up to what people expect from “Brooklyn fighters.”

“When you’re from Brooklyn you’re supposed to be this big, tough, bad guy,” Pagan explained. “But that’s not the image I want to portray. I’m not big at all. I’m one hundred and thirty-something pounds. I’m not a bad guy, I’m just tough.”

When talking to Pagan, however, it is clear that he saves his toughness for inside of the ring. Through his actions outside of the ring, the always smiling Pagan is striving to make a positive and long-lasting impact in the lives of people in need.

In addition to pledging his entire first purse as a professional prizefighter to the Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation, Pagan has also volunteered to donate his time teaching kids at Atlas’s gyms.

“When you care about others more than yourself, you’re stronger in whatever you do,” said Atlas.

If what Atlas said is true, it might be difficult to find another boxer as strong as Pagan.

The alarm has been sounded. Take notice of Shemuel Pagan, not just for his achievements inside the ring, but outside as well.

CLICK TO ORDER ON – DEMAND REPLAY FOR JUST $4.99
Boxing returned Saturday night to the Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn, New York for the first time since 2008. The fight card, presented by Havoc Boxing, was headlined by a bout between Brooklyn’s own Mauricio Martinez vs. Reynaldo Lopez.

Mauricio Martinez (35-10-1, 23 KO) vs. Reynaldo Lopez (30-9-2, 22 KO)

It took less than a minute into the initial round for Reynaldo Lopez to send Brooklyn’s Mauricio Martinez to the canvas with a crushing right hook placed perfectly on the Panamanian import’s chin.

The former WBO bantamweight titleholder, Martinez, beat referee Steve Willis’ ten count and although clearly injured, proceeded with the fight.

Just seconds after action resumed, Martinez, standing on clumsy legs, was sent crashing to canvas again courtesy of another right hook from the southpaw, Lopez.

Once again, Martinez, beat the ten count — but as soon as the ten second intermission terminated, Lopez picked right back up where he left off.

Lopez sent the wobbly-legged Martinez across the ring with a flurry of rights and lefts that reached his opponent with hardly any opposition.

Lopez delivered a hard body shot to Martinez that backed him close to the ropes before finishing off the fight in style with one more blistering right hook that sent Martinez violently to the canvas for the final time.

The last punch of the night resulted in Martinez’s head banging hard against the edge of the canvas, underneath the ropes where the apron meets the mat.

And just like that, one minute and twenty-one seconds into the main event, which was scheduled for ten rounds, referee Steve Willis called a halt to the bout and Reynaldo Lopez was crowned the new New York State Jr. Featherweight Champion.

Gary Stark Jr. (23-3, 8 KO) vs. Leopoldo Arrocha (8-12-2, 6 KO)

The very popular Gary Stark Jr. (23-3, 8KO’s, 126lbs) stepped into the ring against the tougher than expected Leopoldo Arrocha (8-12-2, 6KO’s, 127lbs). Chants of “Gary, Gary” accompanied the opening bell, and both fighters wasted no time in getting to know each other. Arrocha worked the clinch and hoped to rough Stark around the ring, while Stark landed the stronger hooks.

The second round got really rough with both fighters exchanging hard hooks. They closed out the round in a vicious and spirited fashion, whaling on each other upstairs while jawing at the same time. The crowd was on their feet and stayed there for the rest of the fight. Early in the third, a left hook by Arrocha followed by a hard clinch opened up an awkward gash over Stark’s right eye. Swelling began to form around Stark’s right eye and that was because Stark was unable to get away from any left hooks. Arrocha opened up the fourth round by changing it up and landing a hard right hook that staggered stark. Arrocha was more wild, but was landing the harder shots. Midway through the round, after a rough clinch, the referee pulled the fighters apart and took a point away from Arrocha for leading with his head. Some at ringside felt that the referee was being too harsh. The fifth saw more even action until Stark closed the round out with a powerful right hand.

In the sixth and final round, Stark was in control with the smarter boxing. As the fight ended, the crowd remained on their feet as they anxiously awaited the decision. The scorecards read 57-57, 58-56, and 58-57 for Gary Stark Jr. – Arben Paloka

Lennox Allen (13-0, 7 KO) vs. Darnell Boone (17-16-12, 7 KO)

New stud, Lennox Allen (13-0, 7KO’s, 167lbs), took on the notorious spoiler, Darnell Boone (17-16-2, 7 KO’s, 164 1/2lbs). Allen started the fight working behind his southpaw jab. Boone managed to slip in a right hand that was heard from afar, but Allen did not seem phased. The fight continued with both fighters taking well calculated risks, and slipping punches gracefully. Allen’s rangy hooks worked well, while Boone’s short counters worked well too. The key was who would land more.

Allen controlled the pace with his higher punch output, so Boone responded by becoming more aggressive himself. This worked well for a bit, but it gave Allen an opportunity to land some hard punches of his own. His body punching is what helped him pull away.

In the sixth round, Allen landed two hard right hooks that somehow made Boone complain to the ref and then to Allen. Boone continued and landed some hard jabs that seemed to bother Allen. The fight continued at the same back and forth pace entering the eighth and final round. Both fighters, very well trained, were hoping to end the fight big. Allen was still the one moving forward, and still landing the cleaner punches. The fight ended with both fighters feeling that they performed well enough to earn a victory. Eventually, it was the judges that sided with both fighters, giving them scores of 78-74, 76-76, and 76-76 for a majority draw. — Arben Paloka

Joe Smith Jr. (6-1, 6 KO) vs. Eric Caminero (7-3, 7 KO)
The popular Joe Smith Jr. (6-1, 6K0’s, 172 1/2lbs) took on the wild swinging Eric Caminero (7-3, 7KO’s, 172lbs) in a fight scheduled for six rounds. Both fighters started out the fight swinging for the fences. Smith, the much bigger fighter, stuck out his jab to keep Caminero out of range, and it quickly worked in his favor, as he was able to outland his opponent with hard punches. A right hand followed by a sneaky left uppercut had Caminero reeling into the ropes and holding on for dear life. He was able to make it out of the round.

As the fight progressed, the pace slowed, but smith still remained in command of the action. By the third round, Caminero began to viciously work the body, and it started working wonders as Smith looked visibly gassed. Smith still worked hard upstairs, but his jab was nonexistent.

By the fourth, it seemed obvious that something was wrong with Smith. Eventually, he signaled to his corner and pointed to his jaw. The ref broke the fighters soon afterwards and after a quick exchange, and blood flowing down Smith’s chin, the referee waved the fight off at the 2:58 point of the fourth round giving Caminero a victory. Afterwards, it turned out that Smith had broken his jaw which made him unable to close his mouth and eventually made him bite through his tongue. The look of pain and distress during the third and fourth rounds turned out to be Smith’s injury. Later on, we learned that Smith had also forgotten to remove his tongue ring prior to the fight and that it might have been an issue as well. — Arben Paloka

Joselito Collado (11-0, 3 KO) vs. Andres Ledezma (15-18-1, 10 KO)

Queen’s New York’s Joselito Collado (11-0, 3 KO) took on Miami’s Andres Ledezma in a six round bout at the junior lightweight division.

Good action marked the first round as both fighters were able to find success with various punches. Collado, with quick combinations, backed Ledezma to the ropes multiple times in the opening round. Even as Ledezma covered up, Collado was able to punch around the earmuffs to score points and win the first round.

Round two opened with Collado lunging forward to land a beautiful left that sent Ledezma into the corner, where Collado proceeded to work his opponent’s body. Ledezma spent most of round two on his bicycle forcing Collado to cut the ring off, which he did successfully and ultimately caught Ledezma with one more big left hand before the bell rang to end round two.

Round three was a successful round for Ledezma, who appeared to have a different game plan, as he stood his ground and used his height advantage to keep Collado on the outside as best he could.

The fourth round was back and forth as both fighters landed harsh punches. Ledezma started the round off by landing a big left uppercut, but Collado came right back with a right hand had Ledezma with his back on the ropes once again. Midway through the fourth round, Collado began experimenting fighting southpaw, but ultimately switched back to orthodox, where he was having most of his success.

Rounds five and six saw entertaining exchanges from the fighters, both finding success, but Collado getting the better of Ledezma.

When the bell rang to conclude the final round, two judges scored the bout a shutout, 60-54, while the third judge saw it, 59-55 — all in favor of Collado.

Mike Ruiz (9-4, 5 KO) vs. Noel Garcia (2-5-1, 1 KO)
In an entertaining bout at the junior middleweight division, Puerto Rican, Mike Ruiz (9-4, 5 KO) took on Springfield, Massachusetts’ Noel Garcia (2-5-1, 1 KO).

The first round opened up with Ruiz making a statement in the form a flush right hand that landed clean on Garcia’s face. Ruiz, who established ring generalship early in the four round bout, immediately found more success throwing his right over Garcia’s weak jab, as he continued to hit Garcia. Towards the closing seconds of round one, Ruiz rocked Garcia, but was unable to finish off his opponent before the bell sounded.

In round two, Ruiz, who now makes his home in Merrick, New York, continued his success by landing more right hands over Garcia’s jab. Garcia hardly threw any power punches at all in round two, as he spent most of it backpedaling away from Ruiz, constantly extending his left, but rarely throwing a purposeful jab.

Garcia awoke in round three as the fight saw more inside fighting, as well as more success for Garcia. Ruiz also had a solid round, as he started to land his left more frequently.

Round four was Garcia’s best round — one he arguably won. After eating a solid left hand by Ruiz, Garcia stood toe-to-toe with his opponent, getting the better of Ruiz in a series of exchanges that resulted in Garcia’s back against the ropes. In the closing seconds of the fight, Garcia landed a nice left hook on the chin of Ruiz, his best punch of the night.

When it was all said and done, however, all three judges were in agreement scoring the bout 40-36 in favor of Ruiz.

Andrew Mejias (8-0, 4 KO) vs. Juan Zapata (1-4, 1 KO)
In the night’s first bout, Utica, New York’s Andrew Mejias (8-0, 4 KO) took on the Bronx’s Juan Zapata (1-4, 1 KO) in a scheduled four round fight at the Super Middleweight division.

Along with the opening bell came a flurry a punches provided by both fighters as it was clear neither boxer planned on fighting the full twelve minutes.

Within the first 1:30 into round one, both fights had touched the canvas, but both times the referee ruled that the fighter’s had slipped. The action packed fight saw Zapata throw wild and wide punches in round one, but hardly connecting. The better boxer, Mejias, didn’t back down, however, as he stood in the pocket and was willing to bang with Zapata.

Round two featured more of the same from Zapata, who felt it necessary to throw wild and wide punches again, leaving himself vulnerable to Mejias’ counterpunches. Midway through the second round, as Zapata was loading up, Mejias caught his opponent with a left hook that sent the Boogie Down’s own to the canvas. Shortly after, deja vu occurred as Zapata was caught with another left as he loaded up for a big punch. This time Mejias’ left was enough to end the bout as Zapata was unable to continue the fight.

With the victory Mejias improved his perfect record to 8-0 with 4 KO, while Zapata fell to 1-4 with 1 KO.

There are over half a million Polish immigrants living in New Jersey, most of them residing somewhere in the northern half of the state.

When Tomasz “Goral” Adamek (41-1, 27 KO), North Jersey’s adopted son, prizefights at Newark’s Prudential Center, thousands of them flock to Mulberry St. to cheer on their fellow Pole, each fight attracting more fans than the last.

In February, Adamek’s last fight at “The Rock”, 10,017 fans were present — virtually all of them there to see “Goral”. Adamek’s North Jersey fans are some of the loudest fistic fans on the continent. They come to Newark decked out in red and white with “POLSKA” scarves draped across their shoulders. They bring the red and white flag of Poland, waving the White Eagle high in the air. They sing Adamek’s entrance song, “Pamietaj” by Funky Polak, and they chant in their native language throughout his bouts.

But perhaps more impressive than the frenzied fans that flock to the Prudential Center every time their horse is in the race is Adamek’s one-two punch of his management team — Main Events (Adamek’s promoter) and Ziggy Rozalski (Adamek’s manager).

After a stint with Don King that guided Adamek to a WBC light heavyweight title, but left him without a true home-base, Rozalski and Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events, struck a deal that resulted in Adamek fighting under the Main Events banner.

In an attempt to appeal to the millions of Poles in the Windy City — a market that was exploited by fellow Pole Andrew Golota some fifteen years earlier — Adamek was first brought to Chicago to see if it would become his home away from home. However, after just one fight with Main Events in Illinois’ largest city, Main Events decided it best to bring their most prized fighter home. Not to “Goral’s” home of Gilowice, Poland, but to Main Events’ home in North Jersey. Main Events, based in Totowa, New Jersey — only twenty minutes or so from downtown Newark — is surrounded by vibrant Polish communities, where handmade pierogis are consumed by the ton and Zywiec flows freely from the taps.

To quote the now much-despised Lebron James, after fighting most of his career in Europe and after a brief stint of fighting in Chicago, Main Events, Rozalksi, and Adamek decided “to take Adamek’s talents to North Jersey.”

And so it is in Newark, New Jersey that Adamek claims home-ring advantage against his opposition.

Main Events and Rozalski’s more-than-impressive management of Adamek does not end at their ability to turn out over 10,000 Polish fans at “The Rock”, however. Their navigation of Adamek through his foray into the heavyweight division has been just as stellar.

After cleaning out the Cruiserweight division, claiming the IBF Cruiserweight title, as well as the Ring Magazine belt, Adamek turned his attention the heavyweight division in late 2009.

Adamek has stated his goal is a simple one: become heavyweight champion of the world. His first three fights at his new division have all served as mini tests for Adamek and so far he has passed with flying colors.

In October, “Goral” first dipped his toes into the heavyweight waters by taking on veteran boxer and fellow Polish hero, Andrew Golota.
In a fight that had more Poles tune in to watch than when Pope John Paul II returned back to his homeland, Adamek made quick work of his aged counterpart. Through five rounds, Adamek twice made Golota one with the canvas — once in the bout’s opening round and again in round 5. The fight was stopped shortly after Golota climbed back to his feet only to be greeted by more vicious blows courtesy of “Goral”.

From there, Main Events brought Adamek back to his adopted home in Newark and put him to the test against former U.S. Olympian, Jason Estrada (16-3, 4 KO). While Main Events and Rozalski knew the feather-fisted Estrada wouldn’t be a threat to knock out Adamek, this fight served as a test to see if Adamek can deal with a quick-fisted heavyweight. Although Estrada is a big man with a big frame, he possess uncharacteristically fast hands for a man his size.

Adamek was able to carry his new weight well and avoid most of what Estrada threw at him, ultimately defeating the Rhode Island native by Unanimous Decision.

After the Estrada fight, Adamek and his team agreed to fly out to Ontario, California to take on Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola (28-2, 25 KO) in Arreola’s backyard in a bout that was televised on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark.”

The fight, which took place on April 26, was a test of chin for Adamek, as Arreola is known not for his boxing skill, but his punching power.

Going into the Arreola fight, many experts questioned whether or not Adamek had the discipline to not stay in the pocket and bang punch for punch with Arreola — a risk that would likely not pay off. Conversely, the same experts that questioned Adamek’s discipline in the ring, questioned Arreola’s discipline outside of the ring with regards to his weight.

Arreola once again came into the fight out of shape, while Adamek, fighting at his heaviest weight, was able to carry it well — proving to be elusive for his Mexican-American counterpart.

When the final bell rang after thirty-six hard-fought minutes in “The Ring of Fire,” Adamek earned a Majority Decision victory. For the first time in his career — the fan-friendly Adamek put on a clinic in defense and rolling. And with that, along with fiery combinations that left Arreola’s face looking like “Shrek,” Adamek had passed his third test.

Now, “Goral”, along with his loyal fans, await their next opponent, “Big” Michael Grant, in a bout that will take place on August 21 at the fore-mentioned Prudential Center. This will be Adamek’s “tallest” order yet, as Grant stands at 6’7”, a clear set up to see if Adamek can find ways to defeat a much taller opponent.

Grant, who hasn’t lost since 2003, but has only fought since 2008 — is a shell of a Klitschko. He has the height, but not the skill nor the hardware that either Ukrainian possesses. Regardless, this will not be an easy fourth test for Adamek, as he continues to fight purposeful bouts all in an attempt to claim a world heavyweight title.

With a win over Grant, Adamek will have passed one more test and cleared one more hurdle on his quest to become a world heavyweight champion.

Main Events and Rozalski should both be applauded for the way they have handled Adamek since coming to the Totowa-based promotions company in 2008. Together they have built one of the best fan bases in all of North America and they have pitted their fighter against meaningful opponents time and time again — all well-calculated maneuvers in an attempt give Adamek the best shot at winning a title..

If, or as many believe — when, Adamek does fight for a heavyweight title, Main Events and Rozalski have made sure that “Goral” will be fully equipped and prepared to bring heavyweight hardware to New Jersey. For that, they should be applauded.

The Friday before last, Team Mayweather handed Bob Arum and Top Rank a bunch of lemons. Instead of trying to make lemonade, Arum passed the lemons off to boxing fans in the form of Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito.

Now it’s up to the boxing community to determine what to do with them.

During his now-infamous conference call, Arum made it clear that his intentions were to pursue fights with possible opponents other than Mayweather, specifically Miguel Cotto or Margarito.

Less than two weeks later the “Tijuana Tornado” emerged as the next opponent for the Filipino Congressman.

In fighting Pacquiao (51-3, 38 KO) on November 13, Margarito (38-6, 27 KO) is receiving a “hand-wrapped” gift from Arum and Top Rank. In taking care of his own, Arum is granting Margarito what will most likely amount to the biggest pay day of his career. He is awarding “Tony” the chance of a lifetime simply for fighting under the Top Rank banner.

During his conference call, responding to an inquiry about a potential Pacquiao-Tim Bradley fight, Arum immediately dismissed the possibility.

“Tim Bradley is a tremendous fighter and he’s a great young man,” Arum said. “But the problem with a guy like Tim Bradley is that even though you and I know what a superb fighter he is, the public really doesn’t know.”

He continued, “The other promoters don’t really promote their fighters. They take money from HBO or Showtime or a little Indian casino and they think they’re doing the kid a big service. I’m not going to give them a free ride on the work we have done.”

That same logic applied to a question about a potential Paul Williams fight with Pacquiao.

“Paul Williams is a tremendous fighter – a great fighter, but he hasn’t been promoted correctly — he doesn’t have any following, can’t sell any tickets,” Arum said. “Nobody is financing the pay-per-view fight. On an HBO fight – HBO pays the money. I’m the one that’s financing the pay-per-view and don’t want to give anyone a free ride.”

Arum’s thinking, which in this specific case is reasonable, has ultimately left us with a mid-Autumn clash between Pacquiao and Margarito. It has also left us disappointed with the realization that a Mayweather-Pacquiao superfight won’t be taking place any time this calendar year.

It’s left us with a decision about what to do with these lemons.

It’s true that Margarito, or as many in the fistic community have comically renamed him, “Margacheato”, was caught with loaded hand-wraps before his bout with “Sugar” Shane Mosley.

It’s also true that he doesn’t deserve the big pay day that will come when he faces the world’s number one pound-for-pound boxer.

Margarito is a cheater who was caught and is still being punished. He is a fighter who, presumably, was willing to endanger the lives of his opponents for a win inside the ring.

He is still not licensed to prizefight in the United States ] and the last time most boxing fans saw him, he was being battered around the ring for nine rounds by Mosley.

So what are we to make of Pacquiao-Margarito?

Lemonade?

Let me try.

Margarito is a battle tested warrior. Having suffered early defeats in his career, Margarito had to work twice as hard to prove the crooked numbers in the loss column were due to the fact that he turned professional at the ripe young age of 15, not necessarily due to lack of skill.

After years of compiling win after win, Margarito fought his way to the top. He has held, at some point or another, the WBA, WBO, and IBF welterweight championships.

He walks through the best punches his opponents have to offer just so he can fire off a few of his own.

This past decade alone, Margarito has stopped Sergio Martinez, Antonio Diaz, and twice stopped Kermit Cintron.

He was awarded a decision over Joshua Clottey. He has battled in tough losses against Paul Williams and Daniel Santos, proving that even in defeat, he still possesses the heart of a true Mexican warrior.

He has fought in fights that looked like they belonged in bars, specifically the hellacious brawl with Miguel Cotto — a fight that left Cotto’s face almost unrecognizable.

Truth be told, plaster-wraps aside, Margarito is an entertaining fighter to watch.

To add to the fan-friendly style of Margarito is the always-entertaining Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao, the seven division world champion and current WBO welterweight champion, is the world’s number one pound-for-pound fighter and arguably the most entertaining boxer on the globe.

Pacquiao’s “Energizer Bunny” style is enough to draw most boxing fans’ interest. In recent years, Pacquiao’s domination of opponents has tended to end fights in spectacular fashion — such as the Ricky Hatton knockout, Cotto stoppage, and David Diaz knockout.

But even in fights where the endings weren’t as exciting, Pacquiao is still a pleasure to watch.

Take the Clottey fight, for instance. It was a fight that was dominated by Pacquiao from the opening bell, a fight in which Clottey suffered a slow, twelve round death. In a unanimous decision win, where two judges somehow awarded Clottey a single round, Pacquiao still made the fight entertaining. Pacquiao’s tireless work-rate was something to marvel at. He averaged over 100 purposeful punches a round throughout the twelve round bout and finished the fight looking like the he could fight twelve more.

Any time the best fighter in the world is fighting, I am going to be watching. It’s as simple as that.

The number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world versus a Mexican warrior, who can take an inordinate amount of punishment, but always seems to dish out just more than he receives. This has all the makings to be an intriguing fight.

End of squeezing lemons.

Do I buy into the hype I just tried to create in an attempt to excite myself?

I’m not so sure.

But at least I was trying to make lemonade. With the immediate dismissal of a potential Bradley or Williams fight with Pacquiao, that’s more than Arum and Top Rank can say. They simply handed off the lemons to boxing fans to let us decide what to make of them.

Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank

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.

———————————————————————————————————————

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.

15Rounds.com caught up with “The Celtic Warrior” Bobby Gunn who was in attendance at the Tomasz Adamek-Michael Grant press conference earlier today. Here’s what Gunn (21-4, 18 KO) had to say about the prospect of fighting undefeated Israeli, Ran Nakash (25-0, 18 KO).

“In order for Nakash go on and be 26-0 and fight the best in the world, he has to be battle tested. In my opinion, he’s never been battle tested…So step up to the plate and fight the fight. There’s no hesitations from my team to make the fight. Anywhere, any place, let’s make the fight. Please, please, lets make the fight.”

“It isn’t complicated. Here’s the bottom line. It’s very simple. Either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. If you want to fight, let’s not talk about it, lets do it!”

“I’ve been after him [Nakash] for about eight months. As far as now, it’s just talk. If his team wants to put pen to paper, he doesn’t have to push me too hard, I’ve been calling him out for more than six months.” “He’s a nice fellow. I wish him the best, but he’d be fighting a whole different league of a fighter. I’ve fought the best in the world [nods at Adamek]. It would be a good fight, I hope it would be for a title…they are talking about that.” “I’ve been training my ass off, I’m ready for the fight. I’ve been training since I fought Tomasz Adamek. I’ve had six fights that all fell through, so I’m more than ready. Let’s get it on!” “I’m waiting for them this week…let’s not play around anymore, let’s get it done!”

No news is good news. At least that has been the case for the last year and a half with regards to a possible Manny Pacquiao – Floyd Mayweather superfight.

Last Friday, Top Rank boss Bob Arum held a conference call to update boxing aficionados on the latest happenings in the sorry attempt to put together the one fight that all boxing fans are dying to see.

As the story goes, Arum had set a deadline for Mayweather’s camp to get in touch with Top Rank and HBO get the ball rolling. The deadline put in place by Arum was Friday at midnight, Pacific Daylight Time.

The international conference call played host to journalists from all around the globe. Some woke up early or stayed up late, while others abandoned their daily routines and responsibilities all to call in and hear what Top Rank’s grill master had to say.

Further, Top Rank, along with other various media outlets, allowed for a live-streaming of the call on their websites giving boxing fans worldwide access to the call.

Unfortunately for all who possessed even the tiniest bit of hope that Arum would talk about progress, he filled the airwaves and telephone lines with disappointment almost immediately. Arum confirmed that he had yet to hear anything from Money May’s camp. As the deadline came and went, Mayweather and his team stayed silent.

But just when you thought all hope was lost, Arum dangled yet another carrot in front of boxing fan’s faces.

“People have asked me as well as others at Top Rank, does that mean the Mayweather fight is dead?” Arum said. “Even though Mayweather has not responded by the deadline, the deal is dead when we reach a deal with an opponent for Manny’s fight in November.”

To quote Jim Carrey in the 1994 film “Dumb & Dumber”: “Soooooo, you’re telling me there’s a chance!?”

Friday at midnight — on the west coast — marked the time when Arum stopped exclusivity with the Mayweather camp and announced his intentions to explore other options for Pacquiao.

Arum went on to declare that he is turning his attention to making a possible fight with the “Tijuana Tornado”, Antonio Margarito, or a possible rematch with newly crowned WBA Junior Middleweight champion, Miguel Cotto.

Needless to say, neither is remotely as appealing as a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout.

There is little intriguing about a rematch with Cotto, who Pacquiao thoroughly dissected just some seven-plus months ago.

If he were to fight Margarito, who is currently not licensed in Nevada after the infamous hand-wrap scandal, Arum said the fight would most likely take place in Monterrey, Mexico.

For some reason, I don’t see that happening. The number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, traveling into another fighter’s backyard — potentially a hostile environment — where Mexican fans would be rampant in their support of their native fighter.

After Arum acknowledged his intentions to inquire about matching Pacquiao with either Margarito or Cotto, he speculated about the possible reasons Mayweather had stayed silent as the deadline passed.

“One of the reasons could be the uncertainty regarding Roger Mayweather and for people that don’t know, Roger Mayweather is scheduled for court in Nevada regarding criminal charges,” Arum said. “Now I know how Manny would feel if he had to go into a fight like this without the services of Freddie Roach and presumably Floyd would feel the same way going into a fight like this without the services of his uncle Roger who has been training him for a number of years.”

Two days later, the Mayweather camp finally released a statement via Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions.

“Here are the facts. Al Haymon [Mayweather’s manager], Richard Schaefer [CEO of Golden Boy Promotions] and myself speak to each other on a regular basis, and the truth is no negotiations have ever taken place, nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13. Either Ross Greenburg [President of HBO Sports] or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying.”

After Arum read the statement, he responded by sticking to his guns, saying Greenburg told him he was active in talks with Haymon, who was relaying messages back and forth to and from Mayweather.

The he-said, she-said all sounds like a childish game of ‘telephone’ — rather than grown men, heads of companies negotiating what could amount to the most prosperous fight in boxing history.

Whatever it is — lack of communication or lies, it all amounts to negativity.

Enough is enough.

No more chasing the elusive carrot.

Arum, Ellerbe, Greenburg, or anyone else involved in the attempt to make this fight a reality should stay silent until legitimate progress is made.

Top Rank has a great stable of fighters and its upcoming bouts should be the focus of Arum’s dialogue, not the constant letdowns that seem to come with the Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations — whether it be the fault of Team Mayweather or not.

No more conference calls to report disappointing news.

No more public cheap shots at Mayweather or Pacquiao and their teams. There is enough blame to go around for everyone.

Holding an international conference call and inviting the entire boxing world to listen in to disappointing news fails to positively serve the sport of boxing.

Next time there is disheartening news to report, save your breath and let us all move on from what could have been.

And on that note, if the next news out of the Top Rank camp does in fact have to do with a Pacquiao-Margarito bout, or Pacquiao-Cotto rematch, you can stay silent about that too.

Kyle Kinder can be reached at Twitter.com/KyleKinder

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

*Zab Judah twice referenced the date October 2nd as a possible date for his next bout.

*Judah expressed his desire to fight the cream of the crop at 140 lbs. and to be mentioned with in the same breath as the best of the division: Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander, and Amir Khan. “Don’t forget about me,” Judah said. “I’m here, I’m coming back. I’m going to be like the ghost in the night…The old Zab Judah is back!”

*Judah credited his maturity to both having a child, as well as developing a deeper relationship with God. According to Judah, his hands are so quick he now punches at “GodSpeed.”

*He talked about his conditioning and attributed his fitness to training at high altitude in the Nevada mountains, which he believes will help him in the later rounds of fights.

PHILADELPHIA — In front of his Israeli supporters, the WBC’s 13th ranked Cruiserweight, Ran Nakash, successfully navigated by Oxnard, California’s Victor Barragan to stay undefeated.
With the win, Nakash — who hails from Haifa, Israel, but has fought eleven bouts in Philadelphia — improved to 25-0 with 18 KO, while Barragan fell to 11-6 with 3 KO.

The bout was slow to develop as neither fighter was able to establish themselves as the superior fighter in the ring. After spending the first round feeling one another out, Nakash began to land lead left hooks, which was a trend that continued throughout the fight. By round 3, Nakash had Barragan bleeding from what looked to be the bridge of the nose. While Nakash found success with left hooks, Barragan did most of his damage in the early rounds with combinations and counterpunches. By the mid-rounds, both fighters looked exhausted, lacking in lateral movement, thus making themselves an easy target for one another. Both fighters took advantage of the fact that their opponent was easy to find, but it was Nakash with his barrage of left hooks and straight rights that left their impressions on the judges.

The late rounds saw Barragan eating more and more of Nakash’s punches, but to his Barragan’s credit, he never failed to fire back.

In the end, it was Nakash whose hand was raised by the referee after all three judges scored the bout in the Israeli’s favor. All three judges scored the bout differently: 96-94, 97-93, and 99-91.

The fight was a gut check for both Nakash and Barragan — and both passed. It was a tough fight, and at times a sloppy fight, but Nakash outworked Barragan to stay undefeated.

The co-feature on tonight’s card was between Dominican gold-medalist, Felix Diaz, square off against Troy, New York’s Broderick Antoine. In the first two rounds of the fight, the shorter Diaz, was able to impose his will Antoine, getting within range and firing strong left hands at the face of his opponent.

It wasn’t until round 3 that Antoine started to use his reach to his advantage and stop fighting with Diaz and start boxing. However, just when Antoine had a taste of success in round 3, a nasty cut was opened above his right eye the very next round. When the bell rang for round 5, Antoine’s corner had failed to fully stop the bleeding, and Diaz was able to have even more success with his left hand.

By the time the round 7 came around, blood was flowing freely from the gash above Antoine’s right eye, along with a new stream of blood spewing from the fighter’s mouth. When the bell rang to signal the 8th round, Antoine was inexplicably allowed by the ringside physician to get up off his stool and continue to box. Luckily the referee saw that there was no sense in risking any further damage to Antoine and stopped the bout just :35 seconds into round number 8. Diaz improved his record to 5-0 with 3 KO and Antoine fell to 10-11-1 with 5 KO.

In an entertaining heavyweight bout, Ukrainian bronze medalist, Vyacheslav Glazkov, defeated fan-favorite, Mark “Oak Tree” Brown of Salem, NJ, by TKO in the third round.

Glazkov looked impressive in his win against “Oak Tree,” showing both impressive technical ability and maturity. In the first round, Brown came out unloaded wide, heavy-handed, punches at the Ukrainian, who calmly avoided his opponent’s punches. Glazkov took a very calculated approach to this fight and waiting until Brown fired wide punches before countering with straight rights and lefts.

In round 2, Glazkov troubled Brown by throwing lead left hooks that continued to connect. Finally, in round 3, after stunning Brown, the Ukrainian was able to pin his opponent up against the ropes and finish him with an onslaught of lefts and rights that forced the referee to stop the fight.

Glazkov improved his record to 6-0 with 3 KO, while “Oak Tree” Brown fell to 15-4 with 7 KO.

In perhaps the most entertaining fight of the night, Russian Maks Liminov outpointed North Carolina’s Julius Fogle to stay undefeated. The fight was 6 rounds full of action — both fighters dishing out some punishment, as well as receiving some. In this end, this fight came down to who wanted it more, and by split decision, the judges awarded the victory to Liminov. In the early goings, Liminov was the aggressor, hunting Fogle down, cutting off the ring. Eventually when his back neared the ropes, Fogle would settle in and fire at his opponent. Both fighters landed good, clean punches that undoubtedly got the attention of their opposition. In round 3, Fogle decided to try and push the action, and instead of being the hunted, he started to move forward. Once again both fighters found success, landing straight punches, as well as hooks, seemingly at will.

The later rounds featured an extremely fatigued Julius Fogle, who was able to hit Liminov, but not do any damage. Fogle’s punches had little on them and Liminov was able to walk through them and inflict his own damage on his opponent. In the end, Liminov maintained his perfect record, and improved it to 13-0 with 8 KO, while Fogle’s dropped to 15-6, 10 KO. The judges who scored the bout for Liminov both had the fight 59-55 and the judge who scored the bout in favor of Fogle saw the fight 58-56.

In his professional debut, former Penn State football player, Imani Bell stopped Michigan’s Lee Thomas after two rounds of action in the heavyweight division. The first round saw both fighter’s come out swinging wildly at one another seemingly trying to go for the knockout. Thomas struck first by sending his 282 pound opponent crashing to the canvas after a devastating blow.

However, when Bell returned to his feet, there was little follow up by an exhausted and out-of-shape Thomas to try and stop the fight in the first round.

In the second round, Bell caught a second wind and delivered crushing blows to Thomas. As the result of Bell’s punches, Thomas was sent back to his stool after round 2 with blood streaming from his nose. It was on his stool where Thomas declined to continue the fight. Bell won his professional debut, moving to 1-0 with 1 KO, while Thomas fell to 1-4.

In a fight that took place after the Nakash-Barragan main event, Russia’s Rustam Nabeev squared off against California’s Alejandro Solorio in a super flyweight bout. In the first round, Solorio came out swinging wildly trying to shock and overwhelm Nabeev. Nabeev was able to initially ward of the attack, but midway through the round was caught with a punch that sent him to the canvas. Nabeev would never fully recover and Solorio easily decisioned his opponent. All three judges scored the bout in favor of Solorio. They saw the bout: 39-36, 39-36, and 40-35.

In the night’s first fight, Israeli Oz Goldenberg faced off against Camden, New Jersey’s Marcos Garcia. Both fighters were successfully able to touch up their opposition, but it was Goldenberg who did the more convincing damage. This fight feature a ton of inside work as all four rounds were flooded with tie-ups and holding. To the referee’s credit, he allowed the fighters to work on the inside until they worked their way out of it. In the end, Goldenberg was awarded a majority decision victory. Two judges scored the bout 39-37 for Goldenberg, while the other judge saw the fight a 38-38 draw. Goldenberg improved to 2-0, while Garcia fell to 0-3.

Twenty-four professional bouts, twenty-four victories. Eighteen coming by way of knockout.

That is a sound resume for any boxer.

But add to that prizefighter’s resume the fact that he serves as the Chief Commander of the Krav Maga Instructional Division of the Israeli Defense Force (I.D.F.) and that sound resume becomes an intimidating one.

It becomes the resume of Ran Nakash.

Before coming to the sweet science, Nakash — who hails from Haifa, Israel — trained in various fields of martial arts, including kickboxing and karate. But it is his expertise in Krav Maga, the official hand-to-hand combat defense of the Israeli military, that is perhaps his most impressive skill set.

Krav Maga, which translated into Hebrew means “contact fighting,” is a hand-to-hand combat defense style which aims at taking down an enemy as quickly as possible. It is a system of defense that was founded by Imre “Imi” Lichtenfeld, a Hungarian-Jewish boxer, wrestler, and former member of the Israeli military, in the 1930s.

From an early age, Nakash became engaged in various forms of martial arts, all roads which eventually led him to boxing.

“I started training at the age of ten, kickboxing — Muay-Thai,” Nakash said. “I kickboxed for seventeen years and have been boxing for four,” he continued. “It just came naturally.”

But kickboxing or Krav Maga were not all that Nakash did in his previous seventeen years before coming to boxing. In addition to placing first in Israel’s kickboxing championships, Nakash has also won Israel’s free style fighting championship and the full contact karate championship.

Further, in 1997, when Nakash’s main focus was kickboxing, he placed second in the world Muay-Thai championships in Thailand.

For Nakash, who is the 13th ranked Cruiserweight by the WBC, that same year also marked the first of three years he would spend as lead instructor at the IDF’s school for Krav Maga.

Nakash then spent five years as head of the Krav Maga division in the security center of Israel’s court system. Along with this title came the responsibility of training special security personnel to prepare them to serve as personal bodyguards to “judges, senators, councilmen, and businessmen.”

It wasn’t until 2007, however, that he was tapped to become the Head of the IDF’s Krav Maga school.

According to his website, RanNakash.com, it is a position that put the undefeated fighter in charge of:

– The teaching and instructing of chosen IDF soldiers into Krav Maga instructors.
– Choosing the Krav Maga curriculum of each unit. With an emphasis on Special Forces.
– Fitting specific forms of Krav Maga to each unit’s special needs.
– Creating the curriculum and instruction of the IDF’s anti terror school.
– Many more important aspects of this position simply cannot be exposed due to their level of confidentiality.

While training Krav Maga, Nakash is responsible for teaching all who seek his wisdom. However, in the ring, Nakash is solely responsible for himself — something he has been perfect at, having yet to suffer a loss.

Although boxing and Krav Maga may seem intertwined, Nakash is quick to expose differences between the two.

“It is not the same,” said Nakash. “Krav Maga is very different than boxing. All the things you aren’t allowed to do in boxing, you do in Krav Maga; and the opposite.”

Upon further inquiry, however, Nakash did admit to the mental advantages that his Krav Maga training and his experience in the Israeli military have given him.

“The advantages are the mental things: to go all the way, never bail out, keep going forward,” Nakash said. “That’s what we teach the soldiers in Israel.”

Tonight at The Arena in South Philadelphia, Nakash will fight his thirteenth bout on American soil, his eleventh in the City of Brotherly Love.

“Philadelphia is like a second home,” Nakash said. “This is my eleventh fight here, so I know everybody, it is great.”

The man tasked with attempting to blemish Nakash’s perfect record will be Victor Barragan (11-5, 3 KO) of Oxnard, California.

For Nakash (24-0, 18 KO), a win against Barragan will put him one step closer to a title-shot and add one more impressive victory to his already intimidating resume.

You can reach Kyle Kinder @ Twitter.com/KyleKinder

Let’s face it. Boxing is seldom talked about on Sportscenter, hardly heard on sports radio, and rarely written about in newspapers. If you called up your local sports radio station and wanted to talk about the ‘sweet science,’ chances are you wouldn’t sniff a second of airtime – and you may even get a cheap laugh from the call screener. Conversely, if you wanted to talk about next year’s Super Bowl, you’d get right on the air.

But what if I told you there is a place where boxing cannot get shut out of the discussion? Better yet, what if I told you that place was accessible to all – a place where boxers, journalists, promoters, and fans can come together and collectively drive the discussion about boxing to the next level?

Well folks, it exists. It is called Twitter.

Besides the classic case of “open-mouth, insert-foot” a la Andre Berto after the Edwin Valero killings when he tweeted “R.I.P to Edwin Valero after killing his wife yesterday he just killed himself in jail today. WOW women are a Motherf***er boy RIP E.V.,” (a statement in which he obviously backed off of); Twitter doesn’t have much downside for athletes. It offers a free platform to help build their brand. It acts as a virtual soapbox for boxers to stand on and talk about their upcoming bouts and intentions. Everyone who follows another Twitter user does so willingly and presumably is interested in hearing what the other has to say. Therefore, for boxers, it can be an effective platform to promote themselves and try to gain recognition amongst both boxing heads, as well as the general public.

Some boxers have already recognized the power of social media and have used Twitter to intereact with their fans. Everything Andre Dirrell writes about on his Twitter account is read by 2,388 people. Whatever it is that Zab Judah decides to tweet about reaches 9,985 people. Amir Khan’s messages are delivered to 26,674. Never before has there been constant access to an audience like the access Twitter provides its users. However, unlike your typical average Joes, the use of Twitter by athletes provides them a tool for free advertising. I wonder how many of Zab Judah’s 9,985 followers will tune in to ESPN’s Friday Night Fights on July 16 to watch him take on Jose Santa Cruz simply because they were reminded by “Super” Judah himself via Twitter. Whatever that number is, it can only help the cause.

Keep in mind, this is a two-way street. Similar to how Twitter allows for boxers to reach an audience in a matter of seconds, fans and followers of fighters also have access to the athletes. While fighters have access to an audience at their fingertips, fans have direct access to the athletes. Most boxers I have come across that use the social networking website actively engage their followers, often fielding questions, and allow for sneak peeks into the life of a fighter.

For instance, back in February, I asked Paulie Malignaggi why he taunted Juan Diaz in the 6th round of their first bout, after he seemingly stunned the “Baby Bull”, instead of following up to try and stop the fight. Malignaggi replied in two separate tweets, “S**t happens lol, I knew I had him hurt but was covering up real well. next time it won’t happen. was a mistake on my part, but live and learn.”

On the promotional side, HBO Boxing, Golden Boy Promotions, and Top Rank, Inc. are three boxing forces that have fully immersed themselves into the world of social media. All of them have thousands of followers on Twitter whom they often interact with by posing questions and asking for their follower’s opinions. At times, they respond directly to suggestions and comments or even “re-tweet” a response, which allows for all of their followers to read someone else’s comments. Top Rank Live telecasts regularly show tweets directed at the broadcast between rounds. The constant engagement of promotional companies with fans keep boxing fans interested and talking about the sport, even during the summer months, when the sport seemingly dies down a bit.

Boxing will never get shut out of social media, like it has on television or terrestrial radio. All promotion companies should follow the lead of Top Rank Inc. and Golden Boy Promotions and establish a presence on social media sites. They risk little by investing time, money, and manpower into actively maintaining and using social media because everything they say on these websites will be read by thousands of people. Further, boxers should be excited and jump at the chance to grow their fan base by simply having an active Twitter account.

If used properly, Twitter can act as a complimentary outlet for promoting fights (just ask Malignaggi and Amir Khan, who, together created a buzz with their vicious war of words on Twitter). The boxing industry — fighters and promoters — need to continue to embrace social media and use this free media platform as best they can. The benefits far outweigh the costs.

I encourage you all to join social media revolution. See you there. Twitter.com/KyleKinder