Tonight, October 18th in Poland, the WBO Intercontinental Cruiserweight title will be on the line as undefeated Krysztof Glowacki (22-0) faces off against Thierry Karl in his first title defense. The recently posted lines at 5DIMES has Glowacki a big favorite (-900) to retain his belt over Karl, who is coming back at (+600). Glowacki has remained undefeated as a pro, and he has been fighting strictly in Poland, where it is hard to get a good read on exactly what level of competition he has been facing. He is one of the top Cruiserweights active in Poland, and Poland has been home to some top rated Cruiserweights, led by recently dethroned WBC World Cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, who dropped his title to Russian fighter Grigory Drozd. Thierry Karl is a veteran fighter with a (31-5) overall record. Most of his career was spent campaigning at Light Heavyweight, and he has not been active since 20111, fighting once on 2012 and once in 2014 over the last 36 months. He is 2-0 as a Cruiserweight and he captured a WBF International Cruiserweight title in his first outing at Cruiserweight in February of 2012, but his lack of activity is alarming. For his part, Glowacki fought 4 times in 2011, and he has fought 3 times a year every year since, so ring rust could be a big factor for Karl. His prior fight this year, back in May of 2014, he went the distance in a bout scheduled for 8 rounds with a fighter with a (9-9-1) overall record. Eith the fall of Wlodarcyk at Cruiserweight, Glowacki and his handlers must see an opportunity to move up in the pecking order in the weight class. The Poles especially have the example of countryman Tomas Adame, who is (49-3) overall and is noe a top 10 ranked Heavyweight fighter much closer to making big money. Adamek established himself as a world champion at Light Heavyweight and at Cruiserweight before moving up in weight to Heavyweight, where the bigger money and attention is. Emulating Adamek and getting out of Poland to fight will be the next step in Glowacki’s evolution, with this fight against Karl not likely to be anything but a pit stop to grab a win. The other fight being offered at the books features Super Middleweight Maciej Miszkin heavily favored (-725) as he faces off against Belorussian Alaiksander Sushchyts, who returns (+525). The eastern European boxing scene has had a lot of stiff competition at Cruiserweight in the past year to eighteen months, and the fights can ignite and become quite heated as some of the patriotic and ethnic rivalries that exist come to light. Suffice it to say, Miszkinwill not want to lose at home to a Belo-Russian.
