Tomasz Adamek  Tomasz "Tomek" Adamek (; born 1 December 1976) is a Polish professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC light heavyweight title from 2005 to 2007; and the IBF, and "Ring" magazine cruiserweight titles from 2008 to 2009. He also held the IBO title in 2007. Additionally he has challenged once for the WBC heavyweight title in 2011. Adamek is the first Polish winner of both the "Muhammad Ali Giant Athlete Award", and the first Polish boxer to win a "Ring" title. Adamek was born in Żywiec, Poland, and currently resides in Kearny, New Jersey. Adamek made his professional boxing debut on 13 March 1999 in Manchester, England against Israel Khumalo. He won by TKO in the first round. Adamek won the vacant WBC light-heavyweight title defeating Paul "Firepower" Briggs by majority decision on 21 May 2005. The fight was described by some as one of the most brutal in recent memory, as Briggs suffered a large cut above his left eye early in the fight and Adamek bled profusely from his nose for much of the fight as well. Adamek tended to be the aggressor and won the fight. On 15 October 2005, he defended his title against German boxer Thomas Ulrich by knockout in Round 6. He then defended his title in a rematch with Paul Briggs in 2006, again winning by majority decision. After the fight Jim Lampley said that Adamek vs Briggs I and II was the best combined 24 rounds he has ever seen. Undefeated Adamek with 31-0 (21 KO) lost his first fight by unanimous decision to Chad Dawson on 3 February 2007. During that fight, Adamek was knocked down in the seventh round; this was only the second time in his career he has been knocked down (upon slow-motion replay, Adamek was shown to have tripped on Dawson's foot after the body shot). Adamek, well behind on points, provided some drama by suddenly dropping Dawson in the 10th round but Dawson fended off the onslaught that followed, and won a clear-cut points decision. Immediately following the loss to Dawson, Adamek decided to move up in the cruiserweight division. After losing to Dawson, Adamek moved up to cruiserweight to beat Luis Andres Pineda by technical knockout in round seven.