Last November veteran Tomasz “Goral” Adamek (49-2-0, 29 KOs) was scheduled to take on the up-and-coming Ukrainian 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Vyacheslav “Czar” Glazkov (16-0-1, 11 KOs) at Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, NY when Adamek fell ill and had to pull out just days before the fight.
Czar went on to face Garrett Wilson at Turning Stone and won via unanimous decision in ten rounds.
Now on March 15, 2014 the fight between the veteran Adamek and the young challenger, Adamek’s former sparring partner, Glazkov will finally take place at Sands Resort and Casino in Bethlehem, PA and will be aired on NBCSN Fight Night starting at 9:00 PM ET.
The fight represents a crossroads for both fighters: Adamek, 37, is facing questions about whether or not he is entering the twilight of his career and the undefeated Glazkov, 29, is taking on his first real challenge in the heavyweight division. The fight will be Adamek’s second defense of his IBF North American heavyweight title and an eliminator for the #2 position in the IBF heavyweight ratings .
Tomasz certainly has experience on his side, in over fifty professional career fights he has only lost twice in his career, a tenth round knockout loss to Vitali Klitschko on September 10, 2011 and a unanimous decision loss to Chad Dawson on February 3, 2007.
According to Main Events’ CEO Kathy Duva, “Everyone always seems to forget that Tomasz only has two career losses. He is a seasoned veteran and always seems to manage to find a way to win.” When Tomasz spoke about his professional experience when compared to Glazkov he said, “I am sure my experience is an advantage because I spent since 1999 in the ring professionally. But just because I have more experience doesn’t mean it is so big I don’t need nothing. I am training very hard. We have a big camp and I am going to ready 100%.”
Because of the cancellation of the November fight, Adamek has not fought since his August 3, 2013 unanimous decision win over Dominick Guinn at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT – a seven and a half month layoff rivaling the seven and a half months between the August 3rd fight and Adamek’s split-decision victory over Steve Cunningham on December 22, 2012. So much time out of the ring is uncharacteristic of Adamek; however, his trainer, Roger Bloodworth, does not think the longer breaks are significant: “I don’t see a difference in Tomasz because of the time off. I think people make too much of having time off between fights, he is as focused as I have ever seen him.”
Adamek gained another advantage by watching Glazkov’s fight against his replacement Garrett Wilson. He said, “I watched the last fight, but the last opponent wasn’t Tomasz Adamek, he was a different fighter, you can’t compare that opponent to me. When Tomasz gets in the ring it’s a different fight. You will see on March 15. I am going to show my class.”
Also as former sparring partners both men know a little more about each other’s style than they could learn simply by studying fight film. Tomasz added, “I sparred with Glazkov, but sparring is just sparring. Verification is always in the ring. You can spar with somebody for two years and when you go into the ring it can be a different story. Sparring is sparring, training is training, but the fight is the fight.”
“Goral” has a large Polish following both here and overseas and, despite the fact that he considers New Jersey his adopted home, he should still have the hometown advantage just over the river at Sands. Tickets are nearly sold out so expect a packed house to watch this long-awaited showdown.
