The Fight of the Year: Adamek-Cunningham

The title says all I am going to say about the main event just yet. Instead, I'm going to start by talking about the network. I've never watched a fight on Versus before this one. I knew the channel for the rather disappointing continuation of HBO's 'Legendary Nights' series, which had gone on largely as a commercial for Bob Arum's Top Rank boxing and frequently featured fights that were considerably less than legendary, and for the kind of redneck outdoor 'sports' shows that I have no real interest in.

Versus was inspired to pick up this card. Not only was the main event my fight of the year for my full first year running this blog, but the televised co-feature was very nearly as good. Both fights showcased divisions one usually doesn't see on HBO or Showtime, bantamweight for the co-feature and cruiserweight for the main event, and none of the fighters were marquee names. But alphabet titles were on the line in both fights, and the main event was also for The Ring's cruiserweight championship (and mine, since my championship system is based on The Ring's and I accept The Ring's ratings as my own since I cannot see every fight their staff covers.) The card, as a whole, was better than any card on HBO or Showtime all year, and the only fight close to the main event was Bute-Andrade. I also have no complaints about the broadcast team, as Shobox host Nick Charles' more annoying traits are perfectly compensated for by Wally Matthews' professionalism and calm. Though Charles is the blow by blow man and Matthews is the color commentator, it is Matthews who offers the intelligent summation of the action and Charles who provides the color with his more excitable style.

The co-feature starred Joseph Agbeko of Ghana defending his IBF bantamweight title against his mandatory challenger, William Gonzalez. Unlike the majority of fights between an alphabet titlist and an alphabet mandatory, this one was great. For one thing, Gonzalez came to fight. Both men jumped on one another in the first round and kept swinging for the entire fight. Even when the action slowed in the 'dull' rounds, these guys were throwing 50+ to 60+ punches a round. The first round was dead even, and though I gave three rounds in a row to Agbeko afterward based on the effect his right hands appeared to be having on Gonzalez, they were all close. Gonzalez changed his style in the mid rounds, trying to box more and time Agbeko and he managed to find a bit more success, but down the stretch Agbeko was simply too strong and too much more effective with his right hand. On the official scorecard, Agbeko won a majority decision winning 116-112 on the scorecards of Larry Doggett and Lawrence Leighton while veteran New Jersey judge Tom Kaczmarek called the fight 114-114. Having called two rounds even, I scored the fight 116-114 for Agbeko off the telecast.

I don't know precisely where to start with the main event. Steve Cunningham was defending his IBF cruiserweight strap for the first time against Polish transplant Tomasz Adamek of New Jersey, and the two men were fighting for the vacant cruiserweight championship of the world. It was a wild fight, in which Steve Cunningham tried both boxing and punching and never stuck to either and switched to southpaw and back for much for much of the action. In the first round he appeared to out-box the equally tentative Adamek in a slow round, and he appeared to dominate the first six rounds... except for his trips to the canvas. In the second round, caught by a clean right hand, Cunningham suffered what appeared to be a flash knockdown when hit by the very last punch of a round he seemed to be winning by a narrow margin. In the first round, after surprising Adamek early with a big shot and dominating the round solidly (nearly stopping Adamek, or so it seemed, in the first half of the round), Cunningham appeared to have punched himself out and was knocked down more seriously by another right hand as it entered the final stretch.

Cunningham could not appear to decide whether to box or punch with Adamek, and he appeared to get caught whenever he tried to switch between the two strategies. After a strong seventh round, Cunningham was caught by a left hook in a furious exchange and stumbled into the ropes for the third credited knockdown of the fight. This time it appeared their feet had gotten tangled, but the left hook was quite solid as well. Then Adamek had his best full three minutes of the fight in the ninth round and appeared to possess all the momentum.

Instead, Cunningham (by boxing more intelligently in the tenth and fighting more desperately in the eleventh and twelfth) appeared to roar back to dominate the last three rounds of the fight. The problem was, the three knockdowns guaranteed the final scoring would be difficult. The official scores were 114-112 Cunningham (Clark Sammartino), 115-112 Adamek (Shafeeq Rashada), and 116-110 Adamek (John Stewart) to make the final call a split decision for the new IBF and world champion, Tomasz Adamek. My score, off Versus, was 114-112 Cunningham, the same as Clark Sammartino.

This was an amazing fight. While Adamek was unable to consistently dominate any round but the ninth, he scored three knockdowns in the first eight rounds and had good moments in every round but the first. Though Cunningham was the better fighter for more of the fight, Adamek's power and refusal to be out-boxed by the bigger man all night certainly earned him his victory the hard way. He is a deserving champion and a rematch on HBO or Showtime for real money is precisely what these guys deserve. I can't find any fault with the final call, though I do have to consider John Stewart's 116-110 score for Adamek something of a magoo. I want to see more of both these guys, preferably against each other at least once more.

They deserve some big money, after this.