By Kurt Wolfheimer at ringside
Photos: Ed Mulholland

WBO #3/IBF #3/WBC #5/WBA #9 heavyweight Tomasz Adamek (42-1, 27 KOs) showed he can defeat a Klitschko-sized heavyweight, but it wasn’t easy. The former light heavyweight and cruiserweight world champion-turned heavyweight contender won a hard fought twelve round unanimous decision over 6’7 former heavyweight title challenger Michael Grant (46-4, 34 KOs) on Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. Grant came out tentative and Adamek took advantage landing some clean shots in round one. Adamek continued to force the action and outbox Grant for the first five rounds. Grant landed some good shots at the end of round six wobbling Adamek and cutting him over the right eye. Grant upped the pressure in round seven, looking to land another big shot. Adamek was cut over the left eye in the eighth as Grant continued to come on. Grant hammered Adamek again at the end of the ninth round. Round ten could have gone either way as Adamek rallied. A rejuvenated Adamek clearly outboxed Grant in round eleven. A desperate Grant hurt Adamek in the twelfth, but Adamek stayed upright until the final bell. Scores were 117-111, 118-110, 118-111.

Junior Middleweight Joel Julio (36-4, 31 KOs) rebounded from his April loss to Alfredo Angulo with a punishing ten round unanimous decision over Jamaal Davis (12-7, 6 KOs). The big-punching Julio hit Davis with some hellacious shots, but the durable Philadelphian hung tough until the end. Scores were 97-93, 98-92, 99-93.

Olympian welterweight Sadam Ali (9-0, 5 KOs) dominated game journeyman Lenin Arroyo (20-13-1, 4 KOs) before dropping him for the count with a body shot in round five. Time was 2:46.

Junior welterweight Jeremy Bryan (14-1, 7 KOs) won when Daniel Mitchell (5-2-1, 2 KOs) claimed he couldn’t see at the end of round one.

Highly touted five-time NYC Golden Gloves titlist Shemuel Pagan (1-0) impressively won his pro debut against Raul Rivera (0-3) in a jr lightweight four-rounder. Pagan knocked down Rivera in round two and went on to win 40-35, 40-34, 40-34.

Jr lightweight Osnel Charles (4-2) dropped Hector Collado (0-2-1) in round one and that was the difference in a four round 38-37, 38-37, 39-37 unanimous decision win.

In the pro debuts for both fighters, jr lightweight Tyrone Luckey (1-0, 1 KO) needed just 54 seconds to stop Larry Yanez (0-1).