The big punching former world title challenger Eric Molina (25-3, 19 KOs) picked up a career best win tonight in defeating Tomasz Adamek (50-5, 30 KOs) in stopping him in the 10th round in front of his own Polish fans at the Tauron Arena in Krakow, Poland. Molina was trailing in the fight going into the 10th, when he came alive and knocked Adamek out with a right hand to the head.
The shot connected to Adamek’s jaw, and sent him down hard on the canvas. Adamek needed to grab the ropes to get back up. The fight was stopped once Adamek stood up and the referee could see the shape he was in.
The win gives the 33-year-old Molina the vacant IBF inter-continental heavyweight belt. Molina was very emotional after the fight. It was clearly a great victory for him. He landed a perfect right hand to the head of Adamek in the 10th. That shot would have knocked out most heavyweights in the division. Adamek tried to get out of range of Molina, but wasn’t far enough away from him at the time to avoid getting hit.
During most of the fight, Adamek was pushing the fight to Molina, who fought in a defensive posture. It was style that suited Adamek, because he didn’t have to deal with any pressure. However, in the 10th round, Molina changed things up by going on the attack, and Adamek seemed unable to cope with the amount of heat that Molina was putting on him. Before the knockout, Molina had landed some really hard punches in the round that had Adamek suddenly on the defensive for the first time in the fight. It looked like Adamek didn’t expect Molina to keep putting the pressure on him, and that’s why he was vulnerable to the big right hand that Molina hit him with for the knockout.
Other boxing results on the card:
Andrzej Wawrzyk TKO 7 Marcin Rekowski
Mateusz Masternak UD 10 Eric Fields
Michal Syrowatka UD 10 Rafael Jackiewicz