A one-time Next Big Thing in professional boxing, Michael Grant has been to the top of the hill, but only to look. His stay wasn’t long, and he did not descend as its king. Instead, like Jack in the nursery rhyme, he tumbled down—repeatedly— at the point of Lennox Lewis’ right hand. Canvassed three times in the first round, he failed to rise by the count of 10 in the second. That championship bout, all two rounds of it, took place in April, 2000.
In fights to follow, Grant (46-3, 34 KOs) was knocked down and out by both Jameel McCline and the once promising Dominic Guinn. At 6’ 7” Michael Grant has a long way to fall. Against McCline he broke his ankle on the way down (first round, very first punch). Against Guinn he was knocked down four times in 7 rounds, the last from a clean left hook that landed Grant almost motionless in a big hulking mass on the floor.
He tasted canvas nine times in a total of 10 rounds in these three losses. He is now 37 years old.
A gifted athlete, Grant played football prior to boxing. But football is not boxing. And given the helmets, a propensity to fall when punched in the head does not pose a particular hindrance to a football player. For a boxer, it is fatal.
Michael Anthony Grant has an Achilles Chin. Training can’t change that.
But power and hope are the last things to go on a heavyweight, and there is no reason to believe that he does not have a puncher’s chance. Eddie Mustafa Muhammad is Grant’s latest trainer. Michael Grant has told anyone who would listen that he’ll win.
Since losing to Guinn in 2003, Grant has fought and won a total of eight times. Beating the likes of Wallace McDaniel (8-21-1, 4 KOs), Billy Zumbrun (23-12-1, 13 KOs) and Demetrice King (15-18, 13 KOs). He did not fight in the calendar years of 2006 or 2009. If nothing else, he is well rested. In May of this year Grant scored a technical knockout in the first round over Kevin Burnett (13-4-1, 8 KOs). Grant weighed in at 257 pounds for that fight, only 7 pounds more than the weight at which he fought Lewis.
On Aug. 21 Michael Grant will face former WBC light heavyweight and IBF and IBO cruiserweight champion of the world, Tomasz Adamek. The two men will square off in a scheduled 12 rounder in Newark New Jersey’s Prudential Center. The fight will be available on Pay Per View. Adamek (41-1, 27 KOs) is relatively new at heavyweight, but coming off an impressive victory earlier this year over the powerful 250-plus pound brawler, Cristobol Arreola (28-2, 25 KOs).
Before that, Adamek scored wins at heavyweight over Jason Estrada (16-3, 4 KOs) and the old Polish workhorse, Andrew Golota (41-8-1, 33 KOs). In his fight against Arreola, Adamek weighed in at 217 pounds and proved that he could fight against Big.
Against Michael Grant, Adamek looks now to show the world that he can fight, and win, against Tall.
The two-headed heavyweight champion of the world, brothers Wladamir and Vitali Klitschko, is tall. Wladamir is 6’6 ½” and Vitali is an inch taller at 6’7 ½”. They have a reach of 81” and 80” respectively. Michael Grant is 6’7” with a freakishly long reach of 86”. Adamek is 6’1 ½” with a reach of 75”.
When David Haye stepped out of his scheduled fight with Vitali Klitschko in the Fall of 2009, Adamek got the short notice call. His team declined at the time (wisely I think), with Arreola instead taking the fight against Vitali—and the loss. But having got the notice, Adamek has worked. He had weighed in at 199 pounds against Bobby Gunn back in July of 2009, and weighed in at 214 in his win against Golota in October that same year—and picked up something called the IBF International Heavyweight Championship belt for his troubles. On the scale in Newark against the former Olympian Jason Estrada in February of 2010 he weighed 220; against Arreola in April, he weighed a quick 217. The addition of Ronnie Shields as trainer has paid big dividends. Adamek wears his new weight well. Ask Arreola.
Adamek has stated in no uncertain terms that he wants a shot at a heavyweight title. Any Klitschko or David Haye—any time, any place.
Consider this fight against Grant a test run, or maybe even a dress rehearsal. But consider it. Adamek can bang, and he can box. He’s got heart and he can also take a punch. On Aug. 21 we’ll see if he can fight tall. My guess is he can. And Michael Grant? This may well be his last chance to fetch a pail of water in the heavyweight division.
