Robert Helenius hopes an upset of Adam Kownacki on Saturday night can secure the heavyweight title shot that has long eluded him.

Helenius hasn’t allowed himself, however, to even consider the possibilities beyond boxing Kownacki in their main event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Finnish fighter has made that mistake prior to previous fights, and that lack of focus cost him dearly.

Two fights ago, Helenius feels he took Gerald Washington lightly. Washington was behind on two scorecards when he drilled Helenius with a right hand that knocked the 6-feet-6, 235-pound Helenius flat on his back and out in the eighth round of a 10-round bout July 13 at The Armory in Minneapolis.

“I think I wasn’t awake enough,” Helenius told BoxingScene.com. “I didn’t see him as a possible threat to me. I let my guard down too early, and I didn’t finish the fight, as I was supposed to do. I didn’t see him as any threat to me. That was the main issue in that fight. I didn’t have any problems until he hit me with the perfect shot.”

That knockout defeat, the second such stoppage of his career, halted Helenius’ three-fight winning streak.

The 36-year-old Helenius’ fight with Kownacki is a WBA elimination match. Brooklyn’s Kownacki (20-0, 15 KOs) is the WBA’s fourth-ranked heavyweight contender, three spots above the seventh-rated Helenius (29-3, 18 KOs).

“This fight is special,” Helenius said. “It’s an eliminator. I’ve been wanting to fight for a heavyweight world title for a long time, and I’ve been training and training and training, without success. So, this is my time to shine.”

The 30-year-old Kownacki defeated veteran heavyweight Chris Arreola (38-6-1, 33 KOs, 1 NC) by 12-round unanimous decision in his last fight, an entertaining slugfest August 3 at Barclays Center. In his previous appearance, Kownacki knocked out Washington (20-4-1, 13 KOs), a former USC football player, in the second round of their January 2019 bout at Barclays Center.

“He’s a good fighter,” Helenius said. “He’s a brawler. He comes forward. He throws a lot of punches. He can take a punch. I have nothing bad to say about him.”

The 12-round battle between Kownacki and Helenius will headline a FOX tripleheader set to begin at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

In the opening bout, Cuban heavyweight prospect Frank Sanchez (14-0, 11 KOs, 1 NC) is set to face Philadelphia’s Joey Dawejko (20-7-4, 11 KOs) in a 10-rounder. In the co-feature, Nigerian heavyweight prospect Efe Ajagba (12-0, 10 KOs) and Romania’s Razvan Cojanu (17-6, 9 KOs) will meet in another 10-rounder.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.