Smaller heavies make a move

Tomasz Adamek would have fitted well into the heavyweight division circa 1970, when the giants of boxing were not really giants.

The Polish-born, New Jersey-based boxer weighed 97 kg when he made his first appearance as a heavyweight last autumn, knocking out 116kg Andrew Golota before an adoring crowd in Lodz, Poland.

The cruiserweight champion weighed about 100 kg for his return to the ring against Jason Estrada at the Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey, last Saturday night.

Die division's main attractions, Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, both weighed over 109 kg for their most recent bouts.

"I'm always asked if I feel worthy to be in the heavyweight division, and my answer always is, 'Just watch me fight,"' Adamek said before beating Estrada.

"I don't expect anybody to respect me because I was champion in two other weight classes. Just enjoy what you see when I'm in the ring.

"I did not lose any strength as compared to being a light-heavyweight or cruiserweight," he added. "Fighting at my natural weight helped me be a better boxer."

Adamek (39-1, 27 KOs) decided to move up in weight to seek more lucrative paydays after chances to fight Bernard Hopkins and others had fallen through.

He knows the heavyweight division was once dominated by the likes of Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman, all of whom fought at around 100 kg in their prime.

Over the past two decades, the heavyweights ballooned to the point where 2.14m, 135kg Nikolay Valuev claimed one of the four major titles.

Their plodding, cumbersome styles of the modern heavyweights have turned off even the most ardent fans.

Recently, several fighters are beginning to tilt the size of heavyweights back in the other direction. Another former cruiserweight champion, David Haye, lifted Valuev's WBA belt last autumn, and Adamek is hopeful of his own title opportunity later this year.

"Tomasz is never afraid. He amazes me," said Kathy Duva of promoter Main Events. "He goes into each fight calm and cool, and always confident that he will win. We all believe in him."

While he's well known in Poland and has a huge fan base in New Jersey, Adamek isn't widely known elsewhere in the United States.

Main Events have rearranged floor seating to squeeze in more ringside seats after they sold out, and decided to open additional sections of the Prudential Centre, even though Estrada has never beaten a major opponent and is considered a steppingstone to bigger things.