Adam Kownacki treated everything Chris Arreola said before they fought as typical promotional chatter.
Kownacki knew Arreola was one of the toughest heavyweights in boxing. The Polish-born, Brooklyn-bred contender just didn’t think a 38-year-old Arreola had enough left in him to make their fan-friendly fight as tough as it turned out.
Kownacki won a unanimous decision, yet he wasn’t particularly pleased with his performance in their 12-rounder August 3 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
“It was OK,” Kownacki told BoxingScene.com. “Arreola’s very tough and styles make fights. So, I knew he was gonna be tough, but he left it all on the line. He said he would, but I didn’t take it that serious. I thought it was just pre-fight talk and he was bullsh-tting. But he meant every word of it, which really surprised me. It was a lesson learned. Now I know when people say they’re coming to fight, they’re coming to fight.”
All three judges – Lou Moret (117-111), Kevin Morgan (117-111) and Don Trella (118-110) – scored their main event for Kownacki by wide distances.
Arreola (38-6-1, 33 KOs, 1 NC) broke CompuBox’s record for heavyweights by throwing 1,125 punches, though, and landed plenty of hard shots on the resilient Kownacki (20-0, 15 KOs). CompuBox credited Arreola for landing 283-of-995 power punches, 41 fewer than Kownacki (324-of-691).
“Obviously, I won the fight, but it definitely shouldn’t have been as hard as it was,” said Kownacki, who’ll box Robert Helenius on Saturday night at Barclays Center. “But Arreola is a great fighter, too, so that’s not to take anything away from him. He’s a dog and he showed that in there.”
The 6-feet-3 Arreola weighed in at 244 pounds for his fight with Kownacki. Based on his punch output when faced with a pressure fighter, the Riverside, California, native was in better condition than Kownacki anticipated.
“He was prepared very well for that fight,” Kownacki said. “Usually, he’s not in that great of shape, like he was for that fight. It was a fun night, though. I think the fans loved it and it was a good learning experience.”
The 30-year-old Kownacki, who also stands 6-feet-3, weighed a career-high 266 pounds prior to squaring off against Arreola. He intends to come in closer to 260 for his bout with Finland’s Helenius (29-3, 18 KOs).
“I think I should be a little bit lighter,” Kownacki said. “I think I should be 260, 258 maybe. I feel I was a little bit too heavy last fight.”
FOX will air Kownacki-Helenius, a 12-round WBA elimination match, as the main event of a tripleheader Saturday night (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).
Nigerian heavyweight prospect Efe Ajagba (12-0, 10 KOs) and Romania’s Razvan Cojanu (17-6, 9 KOs) are set to meet in the 10-round co-feature. The telecast will begin with a 10-rounder between Cuban heavyweight prospect Frank Sanchez (14-0, 11 KOs, 1 NC) and Philadelphia’s Joey Dawejko (20-7-4, 11 KOs).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
