Baby Face Fall From Grace Where Heavyweight Adam Kownacki Took Damage
Editorial By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
‘Baby Face’ fell from grace. Certain heavyweight careers can be suddenly hot, and then suddenly they are not. Deontay Wilder and Adam Kownacki are two prime examples of undefeated contenders and world champions who hit the end of the road when their skills have gradually eroded.
In the case of Adam ‘Babyface’ Kownacki, 20-4 with 15 knockouts, Lomza, Poland, the first 20 wins and 10 years of his career were punctuated with a 12 round decision win over Chris Arreola at Barclays Center Brooklyn. In that bout, won by Kownacki, heavyweight vet Arreola threw a CompuBox record 1,125 punches. The damage taken by Kownacki in a punch volume bout such as that was extreme.
Kownacki failed in 2020 and 2021, getting stopped by Robert Helenius twice (the second bout looked more like a loss by disqualification), Kownacki then lost a 10 round decision to Ali Eren Demirezen. A 2023 eight round loss to Joe Cusumano, a bout in which Kownacki went down in the first round, was changed to a No-Contest. A March 2024 45 seconds stoppage loss to Kacper Reyna for the vacant Polish Heavyweight title probably ended Kownacki’s career for good.
Certain types of head shots, when taken in volume at the heavyweight level, can have lasting cumulative effects. A 12 round bout in which Arreola landed 298 punches including 298 power shots took their toll. Kownacki landed 369 of 1,047 punches thrown. Arreola’s blows apparently had more devastating effect. As soon as Helenius landed a head blow against Kownacki in their first bout, the bout was pretty much over. This reporter hopes Kownacki, after his last bout attempt, to avoid long term consequences, will stay retired.
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