LAS VEGAS -- After Poland's Tomasz Adamek, a former cruiserweight and light heavyweight world champion, who moved up in weight and became a bona fide heavyweight contender, lost his second fight in a row in November, he announced his retirement from boxing.
After all, Adamek won the cruiserweight title, challenged for a heavyweight world title (getting stopped in the 10th round by Vitali Klitschko in a huge fight in Poland in 2011) and had been in many brutal fights during his 15-year career. It seemed like a good time to walk away, having lost back-to-back decisions to Vyacheslav "Czar" Glazkov in March 2014 and Polish countryman Artur Szpilka in November.
But Adamek has had a change of heart. He will return to the ring to face popular countryman Przemyslaw Saleta in a scheduled 10-round fight on Sept. 26 at Atlas Arena in Lodz, Poland, Main Events promoter Kathy Duva told ESPN.com as he she signed the contracts on Friday afternoon at Mandalay Bay, where she is promoting Saturday night's HBO-televised card headline by light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev against Nadjib Mohammedi.
Duva said the deal with Polish broadcaster Polsat, which is bankrolling the fight, was finalized a few hours before she signed the contracts.
Adamek (49-4, 29 KOs), 38, of Poland, one of the best fighters in Polish history, twice held cruiserweight titles before moving up to the heavyweight division in 2009, debuting with a fifth-round knockout of countryman Andrew Golota in one of the biggest fights in Polish history.
Adamek won five more heavyweight fights in a row, including an upset decision against Chris Arreola in 2010, before falling to Klitschko. Adamek won five more fights in a row after that, including notable victories against Eddie Chambers and Steve Cunningham, in a rematch of their 2008 cruiserweight championship classic that Adamek also won. Then came the two losses in a row and a retirement that did not last.
"It's up to him to decide if he wants to retire, not me," Duva said. "This is a novelty fight in Poland because they are both big names there. Whatever Tomasz does, he has earned the right to do what he wants and to go out how he wants to go out."
Saleta (44-7, 22 KOs), 47, who turned pro in 1991, retired in 2006 but returned in 2013 to face Golota in what was a bloody and brutal battle that Saleta won by sixth-round knockout. This will be Saleta's first fight since facing Golota.