J'can Bell looks to pound Polish fighter

KATOWICE, Poland (CMC):

Jamaican O'Neil Bell is untroubled by being the outsider in tonight's International Boxing Federation (IBF) cruiserweight title eliminator against Tomasz Adamek at the Spodek Arena.

The bout takes place on home soil for Adamek, who has been labelled the favourite for the 12-round contest, but Bell is unperturbed by his underdog status and has no fear of judges siding with the home fighter.

"I expect a fair fight, I have no reason to believe that there will be any bias (in the) officiating," Bell declared.

"I'll be fighting him in Poland and I expect his people will be behind him and that's fine. It will have no outcome on the fight once the bell rings," added Bell, who is originally from Montego Bay on Jamaica's north coast.

Guaranteed fight

The winner of the bout is guaranteed a shot at current IBF champion Steve Cunningham, of the United States of America (US).

Ranked number seven by the IBF, Bell has a ring record of 26 wins (24 knockouts) against two losses, while former world light heavyweight champion Adamek, the IBF's number three man and former world light heavyweight champion, has 33 wins (22 knockouts) against one loss.

Bell, 33, has not fought since his disputed world title loss rematch to Frenchman Jean-Marc Mormeck 13 months ago in France, a result that snapped a 26-fight unbeaten streak for Bell.

Mormeck beat Bell on a unanimous points decision in March last year to avenge his loss to the US-based Bell in January 2006.

The loss to Mormeck was bitter for Bell. He believes he was robbed by the judges, who scored the Frenchman the winner 115-113 (twice) and 116-112.

The Atlanta-based Bell was so distraught over the loss, he went into a state of inactivity, but he now says he has overcome that disappointment.

"I felt I was robbed, but I should have stopped him and I didn't. As for the lay off, some things happened that were out of my control, it is what it is and all that is behind me and I'm ready to win back my title," Bell said. "I've wiped all that stuff under the carpet. O'Neil Bell is happy, my mind is right and I'm ready to get back into the mix and regain my titles, hopefully, by February of 2009."

Adamek's only career defeat came in February last year when he lost his World Boxing Council (WBC) crown in the 175-pound weight class to the unbeaten American Chad Dawson.

Since that defeat, Adamek has moved up to the 200-pound cruiserweight division and scored good wins over Luis Pineda and Jospi Jalusic.

Became champion

Bell became a world champion in May 2005 when he defeated Canada's Dale Brown on points in Florida for the vacant IBF title.

He successfully defended the title against Sebastian Rothmann in August that year and five months later, Bell dramatically knocked out Mormeck at Madison Square Garden to unify the titles.

Mormeck had come into that bout as WBC and World Boxing Association (WBA) champion and Bell's win made him the first undisputed cruiserweight boxing champion in 18 years, since Evander Holyfield in 1988.

In an interview with the BoxingTalk website this week, Bell assured his fans that he will rise to the top again.

"To my fans out there, watch on April 19. I'm back on the scene, sorry for the long layoff and don't worry the best is yet to come," he said.