Adamek and Hopkins close to a deal

August 22, 5:30 PMNewark Boxing ExaminerAaron King

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According to Dan Rafael at ESPN.com, the relevant principles for Tomasz Adamek and Bernard Hopkins have agreed to basic terms. The camps for Adamek and Hopkins, the Ring magazine cruiserweight and light heavyweight champions respectively, told Rafael that fight would take place on January 30 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

Hopkins, who will be 45 years old come fight night, will receive a 60-40 split. The offer is much more realistic and accomodating than Hopkins and Golden Boy Promotions' first lowball offer in March--a flat $500,000 to Adamek and his team at Main Events.

In March, HBO was prepared to offer $3 million for the fight and that figure has not changed, according to Rafael. This remains the final roadblock as Hopkins is looking for $3.5 million.

As was suspected, Adamek's Polish team is indeed working on negotiations with washed-up former heavyweight titlist Andrew Golota in case Hopkins and HBO can't come to terms. That puts a rematch with Steve Cunningham on hold until next year. Cunningham is the mandatory for Adamek's alphabet belt.

The first match between the world's two best cruiserweights was a back-and-forth slugfest that was a popular pick for fight of the year. However, its audience was limited because it aired on Versus. HBO has shown interest in the rematch, but with its busy fall lineup, it didn't have room in its budget for the rematch.