Adamek is the leader in heavyweight Pole

NEWARK, N.J. - Moscow on the Hudson? No, more like Warsaw on the Passaic.

In an American heavyweight recession that shows no signs of abating any time soon, it might come as a surprise to those still paying attention that the best U.S.-based big man, or at least the one most seemingly marketable, is actually . . . Polish.

"A reporter asked me the other day, 'Is Tomasz Adamek America's only hope to become a heavyweight champion?' I said, 'Oh, thank you, I guess I'm doing my job,' " Main Events president Kathy Duva said after Adamek (42-1, 27 KOs), a Polish national but is a part-time resident of Jersey City, whittled down the much larger Michael Grant (46-4, 34 KOs) to score a 12-round, unanimous decision Saturday night at the Prudential Center.

"But think about it. Tomasz [who was born in Gilowice, Poland] has embraced the people here, and they've embraced him. Our company has had much success promoting foreign fighters in America. We had Lennox Lewis, Andrew Golota and the ultimate Jersey boy, Arturo Gatti. Does anyone realize that Arturo [who was born in Italy and raised in Montreal] was never an American citizen? So don't tell me we can't do the same with Tomasz Adamek."

Given the generally depleted state of the heavyweight division on this side of the Atlantic, Duva has every reason to believe a kielbasa-flavored heavyweight can win the hearts, minds and wallets of American fight fans as much as, say, the late, great Gatti. His incredible popularity in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall is the measuring stick against which Adamek's devoted fan base in Newark must be gauged.

In his fifth appearance in the Prudential Center, Adamek again did his thing before an adoring, red-and-white-clad throng of 10,972 that chanted "Ad-am-ek! Ad-am-ek!" throughout. The constant din Adamek supporters raise is reminiscent of the wall of noise that reverberated at the World Cup in South Africa whenever the host nation took the pitch, and they did it without vuzuvelas.

But there's many more Adamek loyalists with difficult-to-spell and consonant-filled surnames that can be crammed into the Prudential Center.

"There are 8 million Polish people in the United States," Duva noted. "A lot."