In an entertaining heavyweight clash (of which there haven't been many recently), Tomasz Adamek proved he can compete with the big men in the division with a twelve round majority decision over Chris Arreola. Despite giving up 33 pounds to the 250-pound Arreola, Adamek - the former light heavyweight and cruiserweight champ - used superior hand speed, ring generalship and conditioning to outwork his larger opponent. Arreola had some success pressuring Adamek in the middle rounds but Adamek weathered the storm and resumed landing the sharper, cleaner blows. With the crowd clearly behind Arreola, only one judge turned in an accurate scorecard (117-111), while the other two gave too many rounds to the hometown fighter (115-113, 114-114).
In the co-feature, interim WBO junior middleweight champ Alfredo Angulo stopped Joel Julio with a perfectly placed right hand in the eleventh round of a very competitive bout.
Elsewhere, Mikkel Kessler took the WBC super middleweight belt from previously undefeated Carl Froch with a hard fought unanimous decision. Both men ended an action-packed twelfth round bleeding from cuts over their eyes and the decision could have easily gone either way. Froch, however, wasn't going to win a decision over Kessler in Kessler's native Denmark ... and he didn't. Scores were a too wide 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113, all for Kessler. The win gets Kessler back in the mix in Showtime's Super Six super middleweight tournament.
Comments
Finally, a real fight weekend with excellent matches. Arreola just could not get it together, and seemed to have a ssignificant hand injury later in the fight. Adamek fought a wise fight, but one wonders if he can last against better punchers. With David Tua on the tune-up trail, either a Tua-Adamek or Tua-Arreola fight would be exciting.
Angulo-Julio was another matador match with great moments. But the sheer will of Angulo and a granite chin, was bound to get the job done. Julio is a fine fighter, but he was in against one of the most determined fighters around today.
Kessler-Froch was a close match, but not really that close. Kessle knew he had no choice but to go all out, and Froch is a talented fighter, but not as talented as he seems to think. In the end it was the sheer will of Kessler that carried the match. Close, yes, but in my book, Kessler got the win fair and square and Froch got his first loss.
We need more boxing like this. We need more real fighters who fight regularly and fight with heart.
Gotta agree these were better fights than usual. Angulo is a good, tough guy, and this is the best I’ve seen him look. I have never been on the Arreola bandwagon. He doesn’t come into bouts in shape, he’s slow, and he’s one dimensional.
The 168 “Tournament” is a home-town judging mess. Close fight, but I had Froch up 116-112, I just don’ get those Euro judges having Kessler (a guy I always really liked) up 117-111. Home town or no, no way Froch lost 9 rounds. But he lost the last fight at home and they gave it to him.