Adamek giving up 70 pounds to McBride
NEWARK -- Three of the five heavyweights Tomasz Adamek has fought weighed between 250 and 261 pounds, forcing him to give up slightly more than 30 to 40 pounds to each. Now Adamek is facing journeyman Kevin McBride, a 6-6 Irish ox who will outweigh the Polish heavyweight by 70 pounds when they meet Saturday night at Prudential Center.
The 6-2 Adamek came in at a fit 215 pounds while McBride tipped the scales at 285 pounds.
It's all part of Adamek's preparation for a pending title shot against WBC champion Vitali Klitschko on Sept. 10 in Poland. The eldest of the champion Klitschko brothers is 6-7 and weighed 247 for his last fight a month ago.
"If you want to be champion, I fight everyone big," Adamek said. "McBride is taller, but my offense is quick hands. I'm more flexible, and I'm moving left very well. I believe I give good show for fans."
McBride (35-8-1, 29 KOs) can claim a 2005 sixth-round TKO of former champion Mike Tyson, but the Irishman lost four of his past five bouts and is best described as lumbering. Still, Adamek (43-1, 28 KOs) must be careful against such a big man with power.
When he fought 6-7 Michael Grant last August, Adamek took a hard shot in the third round, was cut in the eighth and weathered a Grant flurry in the 12th. But Adamek easily won a decision and hurt Grant with bombs in the fourth and 11th rounds.
"Grant is a very, very strong man," Adamek said. "He's the strongest I'm fighting so far. That's why we have this fight is because every camp for me is experience. I feel I'm a better fighter every time."
Trainer Roger Bloodworth is changing Adamek to a more flexible and mobile style that allows him to use his hand speed to good advantage against bigger men. "His punching power is getting better, and he's getting a lot more into the punches than he used to," Bloodworth said. "He used to be fairly straight up, and he moved to the right all the time. Now he's moving both directions, and he's moving his head better. As far as speed goes, I think Tomasz is quicker than almost any heavyweight out there."
