ESTRADA IS VERY SOLID BOXER

Tomasz Adamek's next bout will be a heavyweight fight against former U.S. Olympian Jason "Big Six" Estrada. As previously announced, the matchup will take place in Newark, New Jersey on February 6.

Adamek, the former light heavyweight titlist and cruiserweight champ, will be staying at heavyweight, at least for now.  While he was facing an old and faded opponent, Adamek looked nothing short of spectacular in blitzing fellow Pole Andrew Golota last month.  This fight would present a completely different kind of challenge.  While Estrada is a big guy, he has next to no power, but is a very good boxer who can throw 80 punches a round.  Considering that Adamek has had fights where his workrate has been quite low, this makes Estrada somewhat of a dangerous fight for Adamek.  In both of Estrada's previous losses against Travis Walker and Alexander Povetkin, Estrada was the busier fighter, but his opponent won the fight by landing the much harder punches.  Adamek will need to keep that up if he wants to beat Estrada.

This is a solid step up in opponent at heavyweight for Adamek, and in many ways is a tougher fight than his previously rumored opponent, Hasim Rahman.  It's also a step back up for Estrada, who has convincingly beaten a bunch of guys on the journeyman circuit, but who has lost each time he stepped up against a contender level fighter.  Estrada never quite panned out the way the pundits had hoped, and this may be his opportunity to get back in the spotlight.

At this point, there is no word as to whether Adamek will bulk up somewhat and abandon fighting at cruiserweight completely, of if he'll come back in around 215 so that he can drop back down if the right opportunity arises. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but one thing this intimates is that Adamek's team may be targeting David Haye rather than the Klitschkos.  Rahman, a long standup fighter who can throw good straight punches, may have been a step of preparation towards fighting a Klitschko brother, at least teaching him how to deal with a long jab.  Estrada on the other hand is an outside boxer who moves well, much more like a feather-fisted and less toned version of Haye.  But before he can face any titlist, Adamek has a lot more to prove in the weight class.