Adams defends boxing title
FENELTON — Work, train, box, sleep.
That routine is serving former Butler Cubs amateur fighter Lucas Adams well.
Adams, 27, of Fenelton successfully defended his American Boxing Federation cruiserweight title with a 10-round unanimous decision over Pittsburgh’s Mike Manna in the main event of a professional boxing card Saturday night in Moundsville, W.Va.
He works full-time at a steel mill in East Butler, often times 10 to 12 hours per day.
“I work steady daylight now, get off around 5, then go right to the Cubs Hall to train for a few hours,” Adams said. “Get home around 10, do the same thing the next day.
“That’s my routine and I love it.”
Adams, now 5-1-2 as a pro, had scored an 8-round unanimous decision over Manna (6-4) in a fight for the vacant ABF title in early September of last year.
“A promoter contacted me to schedule a rematch,” Adams said. “Mike really wanted one and I wanted to give it to him. We negotiated, everything worked out, and it was on.”
Adams said Manna, 40, was aggressive early in the bout, which the latter paid for later.
“He came at me right away, throwing a lot of punches,” Adams said. “I was able to duck away, make him miss ... then I started using my jab to keep him off. By the fifth round, I could see him beginning to slow down. That’s when I picked it up.
“I began going at him hard and was hitting him often, I backed him into the ropes and knew I had him.”
Adams figured he broke Manna’s nose in the seventh round as “blood was gushing out of there pretty good.” The bout was nearly stopped in the eighth round, but Adams said Manna was saved by the bell.
“I was beating on him pretty good,” he said. “I thought the referee might stop it, but he came back out for the ninth and finished the fight.”
Sylvia Adams, Lucas’ mother, said Manna is a popular fighter with a good following.
“He’s a good man. He donates a lot of his boxing winnings to charity,” she said. “People were partial toward him, wanted to see him win. I get it. But Lucas is younger. He just overpowered him and wore him out.”
Adams is trained by Richard Cramer, a former Butler Cubs boxer himself who ran The Lion’s Den, a boxing gym in East Brady, for years before closing that business. Bill Wolfe helps train Adams as well.
Cramer has been helping out with the Cubs boxing program. He’s been training Adams since 2015.
“He doesn’t back down from anybody,” Cramer said of Adams. “He’ll take on any fight. Lucas has a good jab. He’s patient and calm in the ring. He takes his time and when the opportunity comes, he takes advantage of it,
“That’s exactly how he won Saturday. He threw stuff jabs, clean uppercuts, right hands, left hook ... He fought a great fight and I’m proud of him.”
Plans are in the works for Adams to headline a professional boxing card at Pullman Park on Aug. 26. Cramer is confident that will take place.
“I’m going to get my promoter’s license ... Lucas has always wanted to do a pro fight in Butler. I want to make that happen for him,” Cramer said.
Adams is excited about more than the fact he defended his title over the weekend.
“I became only the second Butler Cubs boxer, Brian Minto the other, to complete a 10-round bout as a pro,” he said. “I’m proud of that. Right now, I’m just taking my boxing career fight by fight. I’ll wait and see where it takes me.”
