Vitali Klitschko defends his title again

It is the second Polish boxer who has become the victim of the Ukrainian champion’s blows. Not so long ago Vitali knocked Albert Sosnowski out. This time another Pole, Tomasz Adamek, former light heavyweight champion of the world, agreed to confront Klitschko. This fight was the first sporting event at the stadium which will host football matches of the Ukrainan-Polish Euro-2012 in less than a year. The stadium was built specially for football and was packed to the gills with boxing connoisseurs this night. At the weigh-out before the fight the scales under Klitschko showed unusually low digits – only 110 kilograms, the older Klitschko hasn’t weighed that little since 2000. Klitschko lost some weight to improve his speed because Adamek is a very swift boxer due to his coming from the light heavyweight division, and his weight equals to 98 kilograms only.

While boxers were entering the ring it became clear which one of them the spectators were going to support. Adamek’s appearance was accompanied by a storm of applause while Klitschko was hissed off. It is quite natural because the fight took place in Poland, though the hiss was not something the champion is used to. He gets very warm support in Germany, where most of his fights are held. But Klitschko is an almost unbeatable champion for a reason, he knows how to win the crowd’s cheers.

The first round began with a boxers’ typical light probing of each other, but at the end of the first three-minute period Klitschko “shook” Adamek’s head with two heavy straight strokes. It was a miracle that the claimant upon the title managed to remain standing. Klitschko could finish him, but he seemed to have sensed that when Adamek’s legs gave way, the same happened to everyone at the stadium, so he just stopped. Indeed, the tickets for the fight cost quite a lot, so it would be unfair to end it in the first round. Every next round went by the same scenario: Vitali occupied the center of the ring and Tomasz danced around, making a lot of unnecessary moves with his torso. Klitschko fully controlled the combat and his opponent and made himself agreeable with the audience by letting his contender into infighting. But even though this element of the fight is not very opportune for Klitschko, he still stood higher. When let onto infighting, Adamek did himself justice and carried out a couple of strong series, but for the most time his blows landed on Klitschko’s shoulders.

The sixth round became the crucial moment. A combination of jabs and uppercuts from the Ukrainian boxer drove the claimant into a corner, and the referee stated that it was a knock down. Nevertheless, since Adamek is a brave man, he came back into fight after terrible blows. Klitschko seemed to have let him have a rest by not forcing the issue, so he started attacking the Pole with a left jab from a convenient distance.

But Adamek was drained way before the champion and it became vividly clear in the ninth round. Vitali was like a predator that sensed blood, he started to launch more active attacks, the series of his blows became longer and Adamek’s face started to resemble the colours of Poland’s flag: the nose red with blood and the face white as a sheet with fear. Starting with the 10th round, Adamek seemed to move around the ring automatically, he barely dragged his feet and closed his face with his hands. The beating of the little Pole was finished by the referee, but only when the boxer’s eyes seemed to fully give away that he is unable to carry on with the resistance. Adamek did not argue against the decision made by judge, and seemed to even have accepted it with gratitude. The bashing up of another Pole by the Ukrainian champion stopped. The world heavyweight WBC champion’s belt remained with the Ukrainian, and Adamek should probably return to his division because it is deeply saddening indeed to watch a courageous and technically skilled fighter being literally destroyed in the ring by a much bigger and more powerful opponent.