Challenger Monte Barrett is nine inches shorter than Nikolai Valuev, the 7-foot-tall heavyweight champion he will face Saturday night at Rosemont’s Allstate Arena. But he found four extra legs to stand on Wednesday when the two posed for photographers.
Barrett pulled up a chair and climbed to a vantage point above Valuev. The hulking World Boxing Association champion was unfazed by the stunt at their final prefight press conference in the arena’s Skyline Room.
After all, it would be the last time Barrett could look down on Valuev unless he floors him in the ring Saturday night.
Valuev is a 300-pound Russian question mark to American boxing fans, and New Yorker Barrett is remembered in Chicago as a big disappointment in his bout here last year against Hasim Rahman. But another fight on Saturday’s card brings more solid credentials and expectations.
The main undercard bout, and part of HBO’s telecast (9 p.m. Saturday) pits World Boxing Council light-heavyweight champion Tomasz Adamek against Paul Briggs. It’s a rematch of one of last year’s most competitive and hard-fought brawls that was fought May 21, 2005, at the United Center. By narrow majority decision, with one judge scoring the bout a draw, Adamek beat Briggs for the then-vacant WBC title.
As crowd-pleasing as that matchup was, Adamek insisted he would not be as available a target for another slugfest this time around.
“He hit me too often with right hands last time,” Adamek said earlier this week as he trained at JABB Gym.
Adamek broke his nose in training three weeks before the bout, and Briggs tagged him on the nose in the early going.
“I used no tactics, had no plan after that,” Adamek said. “I was a street fighter instead of a technician.
“This time I’ve got a lot more punches to throw. My left hand is quicker. Briggs cannot be prepared for how quick I am.”
Briggs also struggled with an early setback after a head butt left him bleeding profusely throughout the bout. He said he is ready for anything Saturday — including an expected large turnout of Polish-American fans rooting for Polish-born Adamek.
“The louder they scream, the better it is for me–that gets me fired up,” the Australia-born challenger insisted. “Those people won’t be able to block my punches.”
While Adamek learned new tactics from new trainer Buddy McGirt, Briggs got some instruction from trainer Sam Colonna, who was one of Adamek’s cornermen for the first Adamek-Briggs bout.
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Briggs, a former mixed martial arts fighter, trained this week at Colonna’s Windy City Gym, 4401 W. Ogden Ave. Colonna’s departure from the Adamek camp was less than cordial.
Meanwhile, McGirt said he watched an early round, a middle round and a late round from the first bout. “I saw weaknesses in Briggs that Adamek wasn’t exploiting,” he said. McGirt also sought to improve Briggs’ defense. “He was getting hit with shots he shouldn’t have.”
Whether the fighters show new tactics or revert to toe-to-toe slugging once they have tested those changes, what makes the rematch attractive is the memory of their test of wills last time around.
The non-televised undercard will feature a lightweight bout between Matt Zegan, another Polish-born fighter, and former champion Nate Campbell; and a heavyweight matchup between Oak Lawn’s Mike Mollo and Irish-born Kevin McBride, the latest man to beat Mike Tyson.
McBride, who resides in Brockton, Mass., and still consults with the hypnotist who prepared him for the Tyson bout, is still disappointed he didn’t get more momentum from that victory. “I will take whoever they put in front of me until I can become the first Irish-born world heavyweight champion,” he said.
Said Mollo: “This is my back yard, my hometown. I don’t intend to lose here.”
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