NEW YORK – Robert Helenius walked away from the ring Saturday night with an immense amount of respect for Adam Kownacki.

The veteran Finnish fighter felt Kownacki’s power and admires the Brooklyn-bred heavyweight’s toughness. The 36-year-old Helenius knew, though, that he’d be able to hit Kownacki almost at will because the previously undefeated contender’s defensive deficiencies leave him vulnerable at times.

Kownacki’s habit of abandoning defense enabled Helenius (30-3, 19 KOs) to come back from earlier trouble to drop and stop Kownacki (20-1, 15 KOs) during the fourth round of a WBA elimination match FOX televised.

“He was too open,” Helenius said to a group of reporters. “He was coming, and we knew he was coming. And my strength was to counter-punch him, so that’s always been my strength in boxing, counter-punching, so I think he was too open.”

Still, Helenius knew Kownacki wouldn’t go away quietly.

“He’s a tough, tough man,” Helenius said. “At some point, I was like, ‘I’m gonna give everything now.’ ”

After flooring Kownacki with a right-left combination 30 seconds into the fourth round, Helenius threw more than 30 punches at the wobbly Kownacki in a 20-second sequence. By the end of that bombardment, Kownacki clearly wasn’t in any condition to continue.

Referee David Fields stopped their scheduled 12-round main event 1:08 into the fourth round.

“It’s boxing,” Kownacki said. “The referee’s looking out for my best interests, so would I wanna fight? Of course. I would wanna go down swinging. He caught me with a good shot and the ref saw I was in trouble. He did what was best for me.”

Helenius acknowledged Kownacki’s strengths, though he contended Kownacki never hurt him.

“He got good power,” Helenius said. “But like I said before, he’s a volume puncher. He’s breaking down opponents with putting a lot of pressure on them, and he’s good at that.”

The 30-year-old Kownacki credited Helenius for withstanding his pressure and coming back to beat the popular Polish contender in front of his hometown fans.

“He did some damage, and then after that he charged at me like a bull,” Kownacki said. “He did what I usually do, you know?”

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