British Scene Preview: Sosnowski vs Vidoz and Dilks vs Adamu

Matt Chudley previews Friday night's Sky Sports show.

This Friday at the York Hall, Barry Hearn's Matchroom Sport closes the calendar year of Sky Sports boxing coverage with a live double header. Polish house fighter Albert Sosnowski takes on durable Italian veteran Paolo Vidoz for the vacant European Heavyweight title while Liverpool's Carl Dilks competes for the vacant Commonwealth super-middleweight title against rugged Ghanaian Charles Adamu.

Entering the fight on the back of a contentious draw in Germany against German based Italian Francesco Pianeta, Essex based Pole Albert Sosnowski will be looking to claim the prestigious blue belt to set up a big fight with promotional stable-mate Audley Harrison. Carrying a padded 44-2-1 ledger, the well traveled Pole has twice found himself on the losing end against uninspiring opposition and due to his lack of size and power, will always be vulnerable to awkward opponents. Despite his obvious flaws though, Sosnowski is a tidy boxer and is strongly fancied against the shopworn Italian.

Having fought and lost twice for the vacant European title in his three previous fights, Vidoz can count himself lucky to once again be in line to compete for the belt. The gutsy 39 year old has packed a decent amount of action into his 32 fights in the pro ranks. With fights against the likes of Nickolai Valuev, Sinan Samil Sam and Timo Hoffman, who he decisioned to first take the belt back in 2005, he’s gained considerably more experience than Sosnowski. But having not seen meaningful action since being outlasted by Matt Skelton last year, it looks likely that Vidoz has his hands full and could well fade late to the sharp boxing of the smaller Sosnowski.

Given an unexpected opportunity to make an impression, Scouser Carl Dilks moves down in weight to challenge for the vacant Commonwealth title against noted hardman Charles Adamu.

Back in February, Dilks was unfortunate not to progress to the finals of the light-heavy edition of Prizefighter. After having dispatched unbeaten and rated prospect Bob Ajisafe in the quarters, he dropped a split decision to Darren Stubbs in the semis. Since then, Dilks has kept busy with 3 straight victories and should he claim the belt on Friday, might find himself in line for future showdowns with some of the domestic division's big name prospects such as James DeGale, Tony Jeffries and George Groves.

Known to British fans for giving an inexperienced Carl Froch all he could handle in 2004, tough African Charles Adamu has yet to be brushed aside by anyone at 168lbs and will give the younger fighter from Merseyside a tough 12 rounds at the very least . Given Dilks's lack of experience and the drop in weight, an away win could well be on the cards if Adamu shows up focused and in shape.

On the undercard…

Former British 122lb champion Matthew Marsh takes on former English champion Marc Callaghan over 6 rounds in preparation for a challenge of Jason Booth in the new year.

Another notable name on the undercard is that of Chris Evangelou, the former amateur star from North London who turns pro against 6-70-5 Kristian Laight at 140lbs. Courted by Freddie Roach after spending the summer training at the Wildcard gym in California, Evangelou instead elected to sign with the Calzaghes.

He will be looking to make a big impact in the pros after narrowly missing out on the opportunity to represent Great Britain and also Cyprus at the Beijing Olympics after having taken the sport up only a few years earlier.

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