Adam Kownacki (born 27 March 1989) is a Polish professional boxer.
Early life Kownacki was born in Łomża, Poland and grew up in Konarzyce. When he was seven years old, he emigrated to Greenpoint, Brooklyn in 1996 along with his parents and brothers, settling into the large Polish community there. As a youngster, he played a variety of sports, including basketball, baseball, football and soccer. He graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn in 2007.
He grew up watching Andrew Golota fights, which got him interested in boxing. As an overweight youngster who spoke English with a Polish accent, he was frequently the target of bullies at school and on the streets, which gave him further motivation to enter the boxing gym. Early in his boxing career, Kownacki had to work in construction and security in nightclubs to support himself.
Amateur career Kownacki started training at Gleason's Gym at the age of 15. He first won the New York Golden Gloves heavyweight tournament in 2006 at the age of 17. He then went on to be the runner up in 2007 and 2008, then won the tournament for the second time in 2009.
Professional career
Early career Kownacki made his professional debut on 30 October 2009, at the PAL Gym in New York, United States, where he knocked out Carossee Auponte in the first round. His first fight of 2010 was against Tyyab Beale, which he won by knockout in the second round. He went on to fight twice more in 2010, knocking out Yohan Banks and Damon Clement. He fought once in 2013, beating Calbert Lewis by knockout in the second round. Kownacki next fought on 29 March 2014, against Excell Holmes, who he knocked out in the second round. Kownacki went on to get knockout wins against Charles Ellis and Jamal Woods to finish off the year.
His first fight of 2015 was against Randy Easton, who he knocked out in the first round. His next fight took place on 29 May, where he beat Ytalo Perea by unanimous decision over 8 rounds, the first time he had gone the distance in his professional career. His next fight was against Maurenzo Smith on 1 August, at the Barclays Center, New York. He knocked Maurenzo out in the second round. His last fight of 2015 was a unanimous decision win over Rodney Hernandez. Kownacki fought twice in 2016, with a unanimous decision over Danny Kelly and a knockout win against Jesse Barboza. He then went on to face Joshua Tufte on 14 January 2017, who he knocked out in the second round.
Rise up the ranks On 15 July 2017 at the Nassau Coliseum in New York, he faced former world title challenger Artur Szpilka. Szpilka represented Kownacki's toughest opponent to date. He knocked out Szpilka in the 4th round.
Kownacki's first fight of 2018 was against Iago Kiladze, at the Barclays Center, New York, on the undercard of Errol Spence Jr. vs Lamont Peterson. He won the fight by knockout in the sixth round. On 8 September 2018 he faced former IBF heavyweight world champion Charles Martin. After a close ten round fight, Kownacki won by unanimous decision with all judges scoring the bout 96–94 in favor of Kownacki. The bout was a part of the undercard for Danny García vs Shawn Porter at the Barclays Center, New York.
On 26 January 2019 Kownacki faced Gerald Washington. Kownacki was ranked #5 by the IBF and #8 by the WBC. Kownacki knocked out Washington at the beginning of 2nd round.
In his second bout of 2019, on 3 August at the Barclays Center, New York, Kownacki defeated Chris Arreola by unanimous decision (118–110, 117–111, 117–111), winning the IBF Inter-Continental heavyweight title. The fight broke the CompuBox record for the most combined punches thrown (2,172) and landed (667) in a heavyweight fight.
Kownacki vs. Helenius On 7 March 2020, Kownacki faced Robert Helenius in a WBA title eliminator. Kownacki was ranked #3 by the IBF, #4 by the WBA and the WBO and #6 by the WBC, while Helenius was ranked #7 by the WBA. While Kownacki was the heavy favorite, Helenius pulled off a significant upset by stopping Kownacki in the fourth round, handing him his first professional loss.
Kownacki vs. Helenius II After over a year out of the ring, Kownacki returned on 9 October 2021 on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder III, against Robert Helenius in a rematch of their previous 2020 fight. The bout was stopped after six rounds of dominance by Helenius against a clearly overpowered Kownacki. The former had inflicted his opponent with a swollen left eye, before suffering repeated low blows, which caused Kownacki to be disqualified in the sixth round. After the bout, the result was later changed to a technical knockout victory for Helenius.
Personal life Kownacki currently trains with fellow Polish boxer, Sławomir Bohdziewicz. Kownacki's younger brother Łukasz is an entrepreneur.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes25LossKacper MeynaTKO1 (10), 2 Mar 202424NC20–3 Joe CusumanoTKO8 (10), 24 Jun 202323Loss20–3Ali Eren DemirezenUD1030 Jul 202222Loss20–2Robert HeleniusTKO6 (12), 9 Oct 202121Loss20–1Robert HeleniusTKO4 (12), 7 Mar 202020Win20–0Chris ArreolaUD123 Aug 201919Win19–0Gerald WashingtonTKO2 (10), 26 Jan 201918Win18–0Charles MartinUD108 Sep 201817Win17–0Iago KiladzeKO6 (10), 20 Jan 201816Win16–0Artur SzpilkaTKO4 (10), 14 Jul 201715Win15–0Joshua TufteTKO2 (8), 14 Jan 201714Win14–0Jesse BarbozaTKO3 (6), 26 Jun 201613Win13–0Danny KellyUD816 Jan 201612Win12–0Rodney HernandezUD810 Oct 201511Win11–0Maurenzo SmithKO2 (8), 1 Aug 201510Win10–0Ytalo Perea829 May 20159Win9–0Randy EastonKO1 (6), 25 Apr 20158Win 8–0Terrell Jamal WoodsTKO4 (8), 1 Nov 20147Win7–0Charles EllisTKO5 (6), 2 Aug 20146Win6–0Excell HolmesTKO2 (4), 29 Mar 20145Win5–0Calbert LewisTKO2 (4), 20 Apr 20134Win4–0Damon ClementKO2 (4), 16 Jul 20103Win3–0Yohan Banks4 (4), 22 May 20102Win2–0Tyyab BealeTKO2 (4), 2 Apr 20101Win1–0Carossee Auponte1 (4), 30 Oct 2009
References
External links
Adam Kownacki - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live