This weekend, in front of a home crowd in Rome, Italy, the Ring Magazine # 7 ranked cruiserweight, Giacobbe Fragomeni (26-1) faces off against Ring Magazine # 3 ranked cruiserweight, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (41-2), for the WBC cruiserweight belt.

Fragomeni is a tough, come-forward fighter who other than his victory over Rudolf Kraj may be best known for fighting well with David Haye before losing in the 9th round. Fragomeni, however, at 38, is getting up there in age.

Although both are of Polish descent, there is more to the comparison of Wlodarczyk to Tomacz Ademak than just heritage. Each does everything well, but nothing truly exceptional. Each, also, has a common opponent in Steve Cunningham. Wlodarczyk split his two fights with Cunningham, winning the first in a close split decision and losing the second on points. In his only fight with Cunningham, Ademak beat him by split decision. Needless to say, if Wlodarczyk beats Fragomeni, I would love to see a Ademak v. Wlodarczyk unification scrap. Can you say "barn-burner"? And imagine Warsaw, Poland or Newark, New Jersey? It unquestionably would be big business.

As I alluded to earlier, this fight has big implications especially if the Pole wins. Either way, two top-ten cruisers is always fun to watch. From what I gather, the fight won't be televised in the US. Please PM me if you can share with me another method of viewing it.

Graham Houston puts forth a good analysis of this fight here: GIACOBBE FRAGOMENI vs KRZYSZTOF WLODARCZYK | FightWriter. I agree with Houston - I like Wlodarczyk in this fight by decision.