Klitschko vs. Adamek Results: Live Updates and Recap

On Saturday, September 10, Vitali Klitschko defends his WBC heavyweight championship belt against Tomasz Adamek at the Stadion Miejski in Wrocklaw, Poland. It is the elder Klitschko brother's first fight since younger sibling Wladimir won a unanimous decision over the upstart David Haye last July 2, in Hamburg, Germany.

This will be a classic good big man versus good smaller man matchup. The 6'7"-plus Klitschko, 42-2 (39), is a full half-foot taller than Adamek who, at 44-1 (28), is a former light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion. Adamek has fought only six times at heavyweight.

Casual fans turned off by the fairly lackluster affair between Wladimir and Haye earlier this summer, should reserve their judgment on big brother Vitali. The elder Klitschko has always been a far more aggressive fighter than his kid brother.

For his own part, Adamek is a more polished all around fighter than Haye. He's also more likely to engage his opponent in close than the brash-talking, but flop-prone, Brit ultimately proved to be. The Ring's Germany correspondent, Phil Woolever, has reported that this fight has generated more interest in Europe than the previous fight; 45,000 fans are expected to pack into Stadion Miejski to cheer for their countryman Adamek. 

HBO starts broadcasting the fight live on Saturday afternoon at 4:45 Eastern Standard Time. They will be rebroadcasting again at 10:30 p.m. In England, Sky Sports 3 will run the fight live starting at 8 p.m.

I will be blogging live throughout the fight here, with round-by-round updates. This one might not go down as one for the ages, but it could be exciting, maybe even historic. At any rate, it's been a long time since two high-profile heavyweight fights were broadcast in the United States within three months time. 

Friday, September 9th: We are only about 20 hours away from fight time and despite scant attention from the American media, I think most boxing fans are starting to get pretty pumped up. 

Ultimately, I do not expect a very close fight. But I do expect it to be interesting and I have seen more than enough skill from Adamek to hold out the hope for genuine intrigue. 

Unlike the Wladimir-Haye showdown, there has been a distinct lack of trash-talking hype surrounding this match up. Both men have been very respectful sportsmen, acknowledging the other man's skill and predicting a tough fight.

While conventional wisdom generally says that a fight with heated emotion is more likely to generate excitement, I think in the case of these two stoic Eastern Europeans, the lack of the dramatic is a good sign. Unlike David Haye, neither Klitschko or Adamek seems particularly concerned with making sure the world knows how great they are. This indicates to me that both men are genuinely secure, confident and ready to dig deep if necessary, rather than flopping on the canvas, trying to steal points.

Vitali has demonstrated in the last few days that he still harbors ill will towards the mouthy Brit, though. As quoted by the Associated Press, he commented that Adamek was clearly better than Haye, "who is just a world champion in talking."