RAFAEL........Hopkins wants shot at Adamek's cruiserweight title

[Guest baseball25]

Hopkins wants shot at Adamek's cruiserweight title

Saturday, February 28, 2009 | Print Entry

HOUSTON -- Bernard Hopkins is 44 but still feisty and looking for a fight. He thinks he's found his man -- cruiserweight world champion Tomasz Adamek.

Hopkins, the former middleweight and light heavyweight champ, looked half his age when he dominated Kelly Pavlik in October to win a shockingly lopsided upset decision. Later, Hopkins said he still felt like he had a couple of fights left in him.

That, obviously, is hard to argue after the spectacular performance against Pavlik. However, Hopkins' biggest issue has been finding an opponent who would be interesting for fans and somebody who would motivate him.

Joe Calzaghe wouldn't give him a rematch and retired.

Roy Jones got beat easily by Calzaghe, rendering a long-discussed Jones-Hopkins rematch a pipe dream.

Hopkins said repeatedly he wasn't interested in tangling with the younger, busier light heavyweight titleholder Chad Dawson, a worthy foe but someone who has virtually no fan base.

Hopkins has now turned his attention to Adamek, who scored a spectacular eighth-round knockout of Johnathon Banks on Friday night to retain the title.

Hopkins, in his role as a promoter with Golden Boy, is in Houston for Saturday night's Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz fight at the Toyota Center, so I've spent some time talking to him this week. When one of our conversations turned to his own fighting future, I asked him what he thought about fighting Adamek and going for the cruiserweight title. His face lit up and he immediately said he was interested.

In fact, Hopkins told me he had already broached the subject with Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who will address it in more detail when he returns from this weekend's promotional events in England tied to the May 2 Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao fight.

"Adamek is definitely a threat. He has ability and he's world champion," Hopkins told me. "It would be a big challenge. I've never fought that heavy [200-pound division limit], so there's a risk. This is a junior heavyweight fight. I can't ever match up with Wladimir Klitschko, so this would be my fantasy fight. This is the closest I'd get to a heavyweight championship fight."

Back in December, when I chatted with Hopkins at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas a few days before Pacquiao beat up Oscar De La Hoya, Hopkins seemed at a loss about whom he should fight (or if he was even going to fight again).

He asked me what I thought and I told him I believed that if he wanted to fight there was an interesting match out there for him, even though I didn't think it would necessarily be a huge event. But if Hopkins was looking for a challenge, I thought it would be interesting if he moved up to cruiserweight to face titleholder Steve Cunningham, who, like Hopkins, is from Philadelphia. Good turf war, I thought, and a fight that would probably sell well in Atlantic City or Philly.

Cunningham, however, would have to win his fight against Adamek the following night, which would crown a new Ring magazine champion. As it turned out, Cunningham lost a decision to Poland's Adamek in a fabulous action fight, one of the best of 2008.

So there went that idea. However, Adamek and Hopkins would also be interesting, I thought.

Turns out, so did Hopkins.

After all, Adamek is a former light heavyweight titleholder, so he is not a huge cruiserweight who would be too big for Hopkins. Plus, Adamek makes entertaining fights. He's been in three legitimate fight of the year candidates -- the Cunningham fight and two wins against Paul Briggs.

Also important in the equation is that Adamek is a proven draw. He was a significant reason the loyal Polish fans turned out in droves for two shows in Chicago, where he faced Briggs on undercards.

And in his past two fights, Adamek, who lives in Jersey City, N.J., has headlined at the Prudential Center in Newark and drawn raucous crowds filled with supporters from the Polish community.

If Adamek defended his crowd against a living legend like Hopkins on a big promotion, I believe it would sell very well either in Newark, Atlantic City or New York, where both fighters' fan bases would turn out.

As for television, it's a no-brainer for an HBO "World Championship Boxing" main event. As for making the fight, as long as Adamek is willing, it should be easy. The promoters, Main Events and Golden Boy, have done good business before, collaborating on two successful Shane Mosley-Fernando Vargas fights, and they are both first-class professional companies. Adamek obviously could also make more money fighting Hopkins than anyone else.

"It would be Adamek's biggest purse," Hopkins said. "I think things could be worked out. I know what is going on with the economy. I see this as an HBO fight, but we could make this a big event, a great East Coast fight. He has a good fan base. So do I. It's a perfect fight for both of us."

As Hopkins said, it would be a challenge for him. At this stage of his career, he needs one.

If you know Hopkins -- and I've known him for nine years -- you quickly understand how important his legacy is to him. He'd be motivated to fight Adamek because a win would give him championships in three divisions, and not just run-of-the-mill belts. He was the undisputed champ at middleweight and the recognized champion at light heavyweight. Beating Adamek would give him an alphabet title and also acclaim as the true cruiserweight champion.

"I want to become a three-time champion," Hopkins said. "And to show people that I can still perform even a year older, since I turned 44 on Jan. 15."

For a man who has accomplished so much -- including upsetting Felix Trinidad, Antonio Tarver and Pavlik -- a fight with Adamek would give him one more giant notch on his Hall of Fame record. For Adamek, it would be a chance to retire a legend.

[marvin]

I'm not really interested in this fight as hopkins knows adamek has an easy style for him and he just wants to win another title at a different weight class.

can't say i blame hopkins because it's smart.

But I don't think the fight will be too competitive unless adamek's power and strength gets to hopkins which I don't see happening.

[Guest baseball25]

Hopkins no fool lol...I mean he knows this is a fight he can win just like the pavlik fight....Dawson beat adamek not to long ago....so if hopkins wins just maybe just maybe dawson dominates tarver again or knocks him out then hopkins will take the dawson fight but I would hate to see dawson lose to BHOp because I want DAWSON to be the next big start like OSCAR...