ADAMEK vs. GRANT
Fight: Aug 21st Prudential Center, Newark
Press Conference Quotes
Michael Grant: “I’m blessed to have the opportunity to fight Tomasz and my man Roger over there. No doubt it’s going to be a nice night for the fight community, for the boxing world period. The heavyweight division is sad right now, so I just say, don’t lose hope. Don’t lose hope, because I know the belts are over the water right now, but they’ll be back. They will definitely be back!”
“How do I see the fight playing out? Okay let’s play with this…He’s (Adamek) probably going to try to figure out the punching power for the first 3 or 4 rounds and then make a decision; ‘Okay do I want to gamble or not’. Meanwhile, while he’s thinking about gambling I’m already gonna be putting power out, dropping hands on him. So then you’re into a ‘what should I do?’ moment. You got to make sure that those decisions don’t make you delayed so bad where you start getting caught. And sometimes when you start getting caught, and getting caught, it messes all the decision making up and that can be very hurtful.”
“I don’t take anything away from Adamek, like I said he’s a helluva light heavyweight champion. But I’m an elite fighter. I’m not like a Jason Estrada or a Chris Arreola, that’s not my level.”
Grant speaking of Golota style vs. Adamek style: “In those two different styles Golota was a puncher and slightly a boxer, where Adamek is more like a boxer. You know what I’m saying, he’s not a puncher. I’m not saying the fight’s going to be easy with that. He has the strength in that. He became light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion, correct? And so God bless him.”
“My ability is basically what it (the deciding factor) is. I’m not banking on size and strength.”
Roger Bloodworth: “You can tell its going to be a good fight. We have all the respect in the world for the Grant camp and we took this fight cause Tomasz had to be able to prove he could hang with a big man. So whoever named this ‘The Big Challenge’ may be exactly correct.” “Tomasz is ready and I expect a great fight.”
“We haven’t thought about what’s next. We’re just thinking about this fight and that’s it.”
Tomasz Adamek: “Sunday we’ll talk about what’s next, but Saturday we have a job.”
“Every fight is very important. Only when you win, you go up. In boxing you can never be second. My whole career I prepare to be the best.”
“I am very excited to be back at Prudential Center. Every fight a couple thousand more people come to see me. Everybody knows me in NJ.”
“I’m ready to fight. When I’m healthy I am very quick, I am dangerous in the ring. I’ve been training very hard for 11 weeks. Size is no bother to me. I had 2 very good sparring partners. They were tall too. Roger is a very good teacher and I am learning everyday. I am ready.”
Photos by Mike Gladysz, Millenium Photo