Adamek Issues Hit List!
Wants Hopkins, Jones and Johnson...but First, Bobby Gunn

June 9, 2009
Report: Matt Richardson
Photos: Ed Mulholland/FightWireImages.com

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For a guy who can't seem to pin down a high profile opponent, cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek's name has been thrown around a lot lately. It seems like every significant opponent from Bernard Hopkins to Glen Johnson to Wladimir Klitschko has been mentioned as a potential foe.

Why, then, is the always exciting Adamek fighting journeyman Bobby Gunn on Comcast on July 11?

"Showtime and HBO, they didn't want to take the fights," Adamek (37-1, 25 KO's) explained to Fightnews last weekend. "So this one we're doing on Comcast. We want to keep busy because a fighter needs to keep practicing to be good. We couldn't put it together because the TV networks didn't want it. The TV had to make up their mind...I'm ready to fight anybody." But if the TV wasn't there for the higher profile assignments, an opponent change was necessary. "Of course, they want to make a couple of dollars, those guys, so it has to be on HBO or Showtime," Adamek said. In their place, Adamek will defend his cruiserweight championship for the second time. Gunn (21-3-1, 18 KO's) is not the opponent Adamek was hoping to face. But the champion is dealing with the circumstances. "We want to fight with the best of them but the TV networks call the shots so I'm not disappointed," he said. "A fighter has to fight. He has to fight more often because that's his business. If there is no bigger opponent, he has to fight a lower grade opponent to keep busy." "I've been training for five weeks," he continued. "I'm hungry and I'm ready for a fight. I respect every opponent and I train hard for everybody. And I'm going to be ready and I'm still going to be champion after this fight." Adamek said he had three men in mind that he'd like to fight: Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones Jr. and Glen Johnson. "They are very big fighters and I want to fight with the American stars."

Jones, though? Really? The same guy who lost 11 out of 12 rounds against Joe Calzaghe last year?

"I think Roy Jones is a big fighter and he's a little older but he still has a lot of boxing left in him," said Adamek. "The more often I fight the better I get. Fighters have to fight. That's what I like. If the big fights don't come I like to fight a lower opponent. After Gunn I'd like to get Hopkins or Roy Jones. That's my dream."

HEAVY ISSUE

If Adamek can't secure any of the men in that trio, don't be surprised to see him move up to heavyweight. He said he had been offered an opportunity to fight Wladimir Klitschko when David Haye pulled out of their fight with an injury "but it was in two weeks. I would do the fight with Klitschko. But right now I am at 200 pounds because that is my natural weight and in two weeks I can not get to 215, 218 pounds. I want to be champion at heavyweight so it would take me a couple of months to get to 215, 218 so I could be strong."

He is also open to the possibility of fighting a rematch with ex-champion Steve Cunningham. Their first fight last December was one of the best of the year and, should Cunningham win an interim bout against Wayne Braithwaite and Adamek beat Gunn, a rematch could happen. "I'm always ready for big fights because that's what my fans want and that's how this business is," Adamek reasoned. "I'm looking for big fights and the bigger the better for me because I'm not ducking anybody. Cunningham was a great, competitive fight and I am looking forward to that fight again."

TICKET INFO

Tickets for the fight, which will be held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, are now on sale. In recent months Adamek has become a popular staple of boxing in the arena. "I live in Jersey City," he said. "Newark is my home and I love every minute of it because I feel like I'm fighting at home," said Adamek who was born in Poland. "This is my home. I love my fans and I want to thank them. My last fight had over 8,000 fans and this fight is probably going to have more fans. This is my home, the New York area."