RING cruiserweight champ Tomasz Adamek is hands down the world’s best 200-pound fighter.

That distinction, plus his national background, has earned the native of Poland a strong loyal following in his adopted American state of New Jersey, where his fights pack the Prudential Center in Newark.

However, being the man at cruiserweight has not attracted the kind of marquee opponents that would make for major events and earn Adamek the large paydays and worldwide exposure he and his team believe he deserves.

That’s why the former light heavyweight titleholder is facing fellow Pole and three-time heavyweight title challenger Andrew Golota in Poland on Saturday in what might be the biggest prize fight in their native country’s history.

And though Saturday’s fight is barely a curiosity in the U.S., it can lead to bigger (quite literally) and better things if Adamek’s speed, skill and footwork can overcome Golota’s greater strength and 30-pound weight advantage.

Adamek’s promoter Kathy Duva of Main Events has made it clear that they plan to keep their options open if Adamek wins on Saturday.

If there are lucrative fights available at cruiserweight, such as a bout against the winner of the proposed Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones rematch, Adamek will return to the 200-pound division and proudly defend his world title. However, if there are no marketable opponents at cruiserweight, Adamek and his team are more than happy to remain in the land of giants.

And the two best giants of heavyweight division would be happy to have him, according to Tom Loeffler, the managing director of K2 Promotions, Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko’s promotional company.

"Adamek is an interesting proposition,” Loeffler told RingTV.com in September. “He’s dominated the cruiserweight division and he brings his fans to the table. If he beats Andrew Golota and decides to stay at heavyweight, that’s a fight I think could be made with either brother and I think it would be an event.

“It would be a great fight for Madison Square Garden with the Polish fans from New York and surrounding areas, but I think it could be a stadium fight in Europe.”

Adamek would love that.

“The Klitschkos are the (heavyweight) champions, but next year, at this same time, I would like to have a fight with (one of them),” the cruiserweight champ told RingTV.com videographer Bill Emes. “I’m excited (to be) fighting at heavyweight. My dream is to become a champion in (in the heavyweight division).”

It’s a dream that almost every cruiserweight champ or titleholder has had since the division’s inception in 1979.

However, so far, only Evander Holyfield, who most consider to be the greatest cruiserweight ever, has been able to win even a version of the heavyweight title.

Holyfield did a lot more than that. After only six heavyweight bouts, he went from being the undisputed cruiserweight champ to the undisputed heavyweight champ with his third-round KO of Buster Douglas in 1990.

From that point, Holyfield made history (and millions of dollars) with his pay-per-view title defense against George Foreman, his trilogy with Riddick Bowe, and his two-fight series with Mike Tyson, Michael Moorer and Lennox Lewis.

Holyfield was essentially finished by the start of this decade but he somehow had enough fight in his 46-year-old body to give 7-foot, 310-pound beltholder Nikolai Valuev a stern challenge in a controversial decision loss last December.

Is it any wonder that former cruiserweight champ David Haye likes his chances against Valuev, who he challenges next month?

Haye had the talent, style and brash personality to be the most popular cruiserweight champ since Holyfield, but the British bomber is an ambitious sort who couldn’t resist the lure of the sport’s “glamour division.” He boldly called out the Klitschkos and then found reasons to get out of fights with both brothers before settling on the mammoth but lesser-talented Russian beltholder.

Fans will find out soon if Adamek and Haye will be successful in their heavyweight forays, but history is not on their side.

Here’s a look at the cruiserweight titleholders who attempted to campaign in the heavyweight division:

Marvin Camel

The Montana native was the first to hold a “world” cruiserweight title when won the WBC’s newly created belt with a 15-round decision over Mate Parlov in 1980. Camel lost the title in his first defense against Carlos DeLeon later that year, but he rebounded to win another belt in 1983. However, he lost his second title in his first defense via 14th-round TKO to Lee Roy Murphy.

After losing a string of bouts to light heavyweight and cruiserweight up-and-comers, including Virgil Hill, Camel tried his luck at heavyweight and was stopped in six rounds by then-prospect Joe Hipp, who outweighed him by 59 pounds. Camel retired with a 45-13-4 (21) record.

Carlos DeLeon

The talented Puerto Rican boxer, who turned pro at junior welterweight, was a perennial cruiserweight contender throughout the 1980s. He won versions of the title four times and only lost to S.T. Gordon, Alonzo Ratliff and undisputed champ Holyfield during that decade.

After losing his third cruiserweight title to Massimiliano Duran in 1990, DeLeon retired for two years before resurfacing as a heavyweight. He went 8-0 fighting awful Midwest club fighters until then-unheralded South African prospect Corrie Sanders zapped him in one round in 1994. DeLeon lost the final bout of his career, a third-round stoppage to Denmark’s then-undefeated Brian Nielsen, in 1995. He retired with a 52-8-1 (32) record.

S.T. Gordon

The power-punching cruiserweight contender split time between Nevada and California where he held those state titles before he shocked DeLeon and most experts by pummeling the classy Puerto Rican vet to a second-round stoppage to earn a major belt in 1982. However, before the cruiserweight division was established, Gordon often fought at heavyweight, where he lost to hot prospect Gerry Cooney (then 10-0) via fourth-round disqualification and popular Californian Eddie “the Animal” Lopez by 10-round decision.

Gordon defended his cruiserweight title once (against a shopworn Jesse Burnett) before scoring a 10-round decision over heavyweight contender and future beltholder Trevor Berbick in a non-title bout. He lost the title to DeLeon in their rematch and retired with a 24-7 (21) record.

Ossie Ocasio

Puerto Rico’s “other” cruiserweight turned heads in the boxing world by scoring back-to-back 10-round decisions over former heavyweight title challenger Jimmy Young in 1978. The wins earned the undefeated 21-year-old prodigy a shot at the champ, Larry Holmes, who dominated the cagey challenger to a seventh-round stoppage in 1979.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShMVvB8nFv4

Ocasio followed up his game title challenge by holding future titleholder Michael Dokes to a 10-round draw in 1980, however the then-unbeaten contender stopped him in one round in their immediate rematch. After suffering a sixth-round KO to British heavyweight standout John Louis Gardner in 1981, Ocasio was more than happy to give the new cruiserweight division a try. He won a cruiserweight title in 1982 and made three defenses before dropping a 15-round decision to Piet Crous in 1984. Ocasio had one more cruiserweight bout, a 11th-round TKO to Holyfield in a final title challenge, before returning to heavyweight. He fought 12 times at heavyweight, losing nine of those bouts to the likes of Ray Mercer, Tyrell Biggs, and Lennox Lewis, all of whom he troubled with his quirky style.

Ocasio’s last fight was an eighth-round TKO to Alex Garcia in 1992. He retired with a 23-13-1 (12) record.

Alonzo Ratliff

The capable Chicago boxer often moonlighted as a heavyweight during his early-1980s rise up the cruiserweight ranks despite seldom weighing over 195 pounds. However, when Ratliff faced talented heavyweight up-and-comers Tim Witherspoon and Pinklon Thomas in 1981 and 1983 he suffered late stoppages to both future titleholders.

Ratliff surprised a lot of boxing insiders when he scored a split-decision victory over to DeLeon to win the Puerto Rican’s cruiserweight title in 1985. That was his last significant cruiserweight victory (unless you count two decisions over one-legged Craig Bodzianowski and a KO of a shopworn Ricky Parkey). Ratliff is best know for his two-round TKO to Mike Tyson in 1986, the bout before Iron Mike beat Trevor Berbick for his first heavyweight title.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGS8NOVDUHQ

He was also stopped in the sixth round by popular British heavyweight Gary Mason in 1988 before retiring a year later with a 25-8 (18) record.

Lee Roy Murphy

“Solid Gold” was a solid pro out of Chicago who won a cruiserweight title with a 14th-round TKO over Marvin Camel in 1984. Murphy defended the belt twice before Ricky Parkey took the title with a 10th-round stoppage in 1986. After that loss Murphy fought eight times at heavyweight, stopping Alonzo Ratliff in four rounds for the Illinois title in 1989 but dropping decisions to South African prospect Johnny DuPlooy in 1990 and Mike Evans in 1991. He retired with a 30-4 (23) record.

Dwight Muhammad Qawi

The relentless former light heavyweight champ won a cruiserweight title with an 11th-round stoppage of Piet Crous in the unbeaten beltholder’s native South Africa in 1985. He made one defense of his cruiserweight belt (a sixth-round stoppage of former heavyweight champ Leon Spinks) before he lost it to Holyfield in 1986. His 15-round split decision loss to the young 1984 Olympian (11-0 at the time) remains one of the greatest cruiserweight battles ever.

A year later Qawi lost a 10-round heavyweight bout to fellow former cruiserweight titleholder Ossie Ocasio before he was stopped in four rounds in his cruiserweight title rematch with Holyfield in December of 1987. Four months later he was back at heavyweight against George Foreman, who stopped him in seven rounds. It was Foreman’s eighth bout after his 10-year layoff and the former champ weighed the lightest (235 pounds) of his historic comeback for the 5-foot-6 Qawi, who was chunky at 222 pounds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HkM1oxYCw8

Qawi started fast and looked good until he gassed out by the middle rounds and basically quit under Foreman’s pressure. His last bout was an eight-round decision loss to heavyweight journeyman Tony LaRosa in 1998. He retired with a 41-11-1 (25) record.

Ricky Parkey

The cruiserweight contender-turned-heavyweight journeyman scored a 10-round split decision over former heavyweight title challenger Renaldo Snipes in 1984. Parkey won a cruiserweight title with a 10th-round stoppage of Lee Roy Murphy in 1986 and defended the title once before Holyfield relieved him of the belt with a third-round TKO in 1987.

Parkey engaged in 15 heavyweight bouts following the loss to Holyfield, going 1-14 against the bunch that included such overseas prospects as Johnny DuPlooy, Gary Mason, Alexander Zolkin and Axel Schulz. He retired in 1994 with a 22-20 (16) record.

Glenn McCrory

The popular British fighter who now makes a living as a commentator bounced between cruiserweight and heavyweight with mixed results before he got it together in the late 1980s and won a vacant cruiserweight title with a decision over Patrick Lumumba in 1989. He made one defense before losing the title to Jeff Lampkin, who stopped him in three rounds with a body shot.

A year and a half after that embarrassing loss, McCrory was served up to an up-and-coming Lennox Lewis. The still-raw future champ (then 16-0) was a bit wild but his size and power was too much for McCrory who was stopped in the third round by a big right hand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY9HHM64DvY

Robert Daniel

The powerful Floridian won a vacant cruiserweight title with a split decision over Dwight Muhammad Qawi in 1989. He made two title defenses before losing the title to Bobby Czyz via split decision in 1991.

Daniels had 30 heavyweight bouts after his loss to Czyz, mostly against nondescript opposition. In 2000, he faced two heavyweights of note, prospect Lawrence Clay-Bey and contender David Tua, in back-to-back bouts that he lost. He dropped Clay-Bey in the fourth round of their 10 rounder but the 1996 Olympian won every other round. Tua bounced him to the canvas three times en route to a third-round TKO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mHPSHa_zcI

Jeff Lampkin

The tough-as-nails fighter from Youngstown, Ohio was a light heavyweight journeyman who got his act together at cruiserweight in the late 1980s. He shocked British fans and media with his third-round stoppage of McCrory in 1989, but only made one title defense before he foolishly vacated the belt at the behest of promoter Don King who was feuding with the IBF at the time.

Lampkin never regained his momentum, dropping bouts Marcelo Figueroa and Arthur Williams before going to heavyweight where he was stopped by the then-undefeated prospects Herbie Hide and Andrew Golota in the early 1990s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alRDJecouic

Bobby Czyz

The popular former middleweight prospect and light heavyweight titleholder won a cruiserweight belt with a hard-fought split nod over Robert Daniels in 1991. He defended it twice before tossing his hat into the heavyweight arena.

Czyz was too skilled for journeymen Tim Tomashek and Jeff Willaims and undefeated Texas club fighter Richard Jackson, who he easily defeated in 1995, but he was stopped in five rounds by Holyfield in 1996.

Czyz, who stayed on his stool after the fifth round because of a “burning sensation” in his eyes, did well enough against Holyfield that few gave “the Real Deal” a shot against Tyson, who he fought next.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJBogeNiQas

Czyz took two years off after the Holyfield fight but was blasted out in two rounds by Corrie Sanders in the final bout of his career. He retired with a 44-8 (28) record.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTK5jESK20Q

James Warring

The former kickboxing champ registered the fastest KO in cruiserweight history when he stopped James Pritchard in 36 seconds to earn a title in 1991. Warring made two defenses of the title before losing to Al Cole in 1992 and then embarked on a brief heavyweight stint going 4-2-1 against the big men.

He held Alex Garcia to a draw in a bid for the NABF heavyweight title but lost a 10-round decision to former contender Alex Stewart in his final bout. Warring, who is now an active referee in Florida, retired with a 18-4-1 (11) record.

Alfred Cole

The long reigning cruiserweight beltholder had an extended run as a heavyweight gatekeeper and journeyman after he lost his title to Uriah Grant in 1995. Cole engaged in 25 heavyweight bouts going 8-14-3 against mostly prospects and contenders, but also a former champ and two future titleholders.

In his first bout after losing his cruiserweight title, he was worked over by former champ Tim Witherspoon in a 10-round loss that should have let him know that he didn’t have the strength and power to hang at heavyweight but his skill, experience and guts allowed him to compete with then-undefeated up-and-comers Michael Grant, who stopped him in 10 rounds in 1997, and Kirk Johnson, who he held to a draw in 1998.

Cole was also competitive with Hasim Rahman, David Bostice, and Jeremy Williams, but he was stopped by Juan Carlos Gomez and blown out by Corrie Sanders and Sultan Ibragimov.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE-7kBVRIgE

Orlin Norris

The older brother of former 154-pound champ Terry Norris is different from other cruiserweight titleholders on this list because he began his career as a small heavyweight and enjoyed a degree of success, compiling a respectable 29-3 record against solid opposition before dropping down in weight.

Norris earned contender status at heavyweight with decisions over Renaldo Snipes, Jesse Ferguson, Greg Page and Oliver McCall, but after dropping a split-decision to Tony Tucker, he made his cruiserweight debut with a 10th-round stoppage of Jesse Shelby in 1991. Norris won a vacant title with a sixth-round TKO over Marcelo Figueroa in 1993 and defended it three times before he was knocked out in eight rounds by Nate Miller in 1995.

After the loss to Miller, Norris returned to heavyweight where he suffered decision defeats to Henry Akinwande in 1997, Andrew Golota in 1998 and to Brian Nielsen in 2001. That same year Vitali Klitschko destroyed him one round.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1L7N3b1xoU

In 1999, he was knocked out by a late punch from Mike Tyson that resulted in a controversial one-round No Contest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edlGrizK1Jo

Norris retired in 2005 with a 57-10-1 (30) record.

Juan Carlos Gomez

The talented former Cuban amateur star is one of the most successful former cruiserweight titleholders to invade the heavyweight division.

The 6-foot-4 southpaw made 10 defenses of the cruiserweight title he won from Marcelo Dominguez via decision in 1998. Gomez stopped Al Cole in a heavyweight bout between his ninth and 10th title defenses before vacating the belt in 2002 to embark on his heavyweight run.

His heavyweight record to date is 10-2 (with one No Contest). He out-pointed Turkish prospect Sinan Samil Sam in 2003, former titleholder Oliver McCall in 2007, and contender Vladimir Virchis in 2008, however, he was stopped in one round by fellow Cuban Yanqui Diaz in 2004,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcfN_3TuAZ0

and he was dominated en route to a ninth-round TKO by Vitali Klitschko in a title shot in March.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePyivc_Jicg

Vassiliy Jirov

The Val Barker award winner for most outstanding boxer of the 1996 Olympic games, where he won a gold medal, made six defenses of the cruiserweight title he won with a seventh-round stoppage of Arthur Williams in 1996.

Jirov lost the title to James Toney in a great 12-round battle in 2003, after which he entered the heavyweight division where he effectively ended the career of Joe Mesi with the brutal final two rounds of his 10-round decision loss to the undefeated contender in 2004. In his very next fight, he took on Michael Moorer and was leading on all three scorecards after eight rounds before the former champ caught and stopped him with a left in the ninth.

James Toney

After losing a light heavyweight bout to Drake Thazdi in 1997, the former middleweight and super middleweight champ jumped to cruiserweight where he went 11-0 before winning a title from Jirov.

Toney never defended his cruiserweight belt, opting to go for the bigger money of the heavyweight division, where he’s gone 6-2-1 (with two No Contests). As talented as Toney was at the lighter weight classes, he’s only looked really good against two heavyweights, Evander Holyfield, who he dominated to a ninth-round stoppage in 2003, and fringe contender Dominick Guinn, who he out-pointed in 2005.

Toney was woefully out of shape for his title shots against John Ruiz and Hasim Rahman in 2005 and 2006. The decision he scored over Ruiz became a No Contest after he tested positive for steroids. He held Rahman to a draw in a fight most observers thought the former champ deserved to win.

After the Rahman fight he lost back-to-back decisions (the first one in controversial fashion) to one-dimensional slugger Samuel Peter.

Toney, 41, is still at it in hopes of landing one last heavyweight title shot, as is 36-year-old Gomez. However both veterans will have to take a backseat to Adamek if the current cruiserweight champ fulfills the first part of his big dream on Saturday.


Doug Fischer can be reached at dougiefischer@yahoo.com