Adamek
defends IBF cruiserweight belt with
eighth-round KO of Banks
1:22 AM EST, February 28, 2009
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) &emdash; Tomasz
Adamek knocked out Johnathon Banks with a
flurry of shots midway through the eighth
round Friday night to retain his IBF
cruiserweight title.
Adamek (37-1, 25 KOs), making his first
defense after defeating Steve Cunningham
for the title in December, sent Banks to
the canvas with a right early in the
eighth round. Banks (20-1) staggered to
his feet and referee Eddie Cotton allowed
the fight to continue, even though Banks
appeared in no shape to go on.
The Polish champion closed in and let
loose another flurry that dropped Banks in
a heap in the corner, and Cotton finally
waived the fight to an end at 1:30 of the
round.
"The body punches were crucial because
no matter who you are, after a while you
start fighting slower," Adamek said. "We
knew as the fight wore on he would wear
down."
Fighting out of Detroit, Banks started
strong and appeared ahead on the
scorecards through four rounds. A right
hand stunned Adamek in the opening round,
and the champ went stumbling back toward
his corner in the fourth after a
right-left combination.
But Adamek, a native of Gilowice who
now resides in Jersey City, N.J., gained
momentum in the sixth round with left and
right combinations. He then took control
of the fight in the seventh round, landing
one body shot after another that appeared
to leave Banks tired as the bell sounded.
"As the fight went on I changed my
strategy and started to connect with more
body shots. I knew from the beginning that
I needed to be patient," Adamek said. "I
knew it was only a matter of time before
my plan prevailed."
Cunningham was on hand for the bout and
could be in line for a rematch of their
thrilling fight last December, which
Adamek won by split decision in the same
arena.
On the undercard, middleweight Giovanni
Lorenzo (27-1, 19 KOs) knocked out
Colombia's Dionisio Miranda (19-3-2) in an
eliminator to become the No. 1 contender
for the IBF belt.
It was Lorenzo's first fight since
suffering his first career loss, a
stunning upset to Raul Marquez last June.
In that fight, Lorenzo was deducted a
point for a headbutt in the 10th round and
ended up losing 114-113 on all three
scorecards.
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