Undefeated Polish heavyweight contender Adam Kownacki will headline a show from the Barclays Center on March 7 on Fox against an opponent still to be determined, PBC announced on its flagship program “Inside PBC Boxing.”
The return marks the first time Kownacki (20-0, 15 KOs) will return to the ring since unanimously decisioning Chris Arreola in an all-out slugfest last August that set a new heavyweight record with 667 combined punches landed in a fight. It also catapulted the heavyweight record for combined punches thrown with 2,172. The previous record was 1,730, set by Ike Ibeabuchi and David Tua in 1997, per CompuBox.
The development also means that the Brooklyn-based Kownacki, a PBC fighter, won’t co-headline the Deontay Wilder versus Tyson Fury card on Feb. 23.
Kownacki was in attendance as an interested observer for Wilder’s last fight against Luis Ortiz in Las Vegas in November, and PBC has one slot on the three-fight, pay-per-view undercard to stage its own fight.
The 30-year-old Kownacki, who has a 75 percent career KO ratio, is being built as a brand in Brooklyn and the east coast, where his following continues to grow. The March 7 bout will be his tenth fight at the Barclays Center. Out of his last 12 bouts, only two will have been held outside of the venue.
If PBC decides to stay in-house for an opponent, the likes of Ortiz, Andy Ruiz, Michael Hunter, Dominic Breazeale, Oscar Rivas, Efe Ajagba, Joe Joyce and Travis Kauffman top the list of viable opponents.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports and hosts his own radio show in Los Angeles. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk.akopyan@gmail.com.