By Geno McGahee
This Saturday, rising Polish heavyweight, Adam Kownacki, 19-0, 15 KO’s, takes on former title challenger, Chris “Nightmare” Arreola, 38-5-1, 33 KO’s, in a high stakes heavyweight showdown. Kownacki has a large following and his fighting style is very crowd-pleasing, but Arreola plans to use the aggression of his undefeated opponent to pull the upset.
Kownacki has three wins of note. In his most recent outing, he knocked out Gerald Washington in only two rounds. Washington was a big fighter that had fought for the title in a losing effort to Deontay Wilder (TKO-5). His only other loss was a TKO to Jarrell Miller, another undefeated heavyweight. Outside of those two fights, Washington has done well, knocking out fringe contender, Robert Helenius, in a most recent outing. He holds a win over former title challenger, Eddie Chambers. Nobody has ever gone in and just blitzed him out of there in such quick fashion, but Kownacki did. It is a good sign to his future potential.
The other two victories on the record of Kownacki that stand out are a knockout win over former title challenger, Artur Szpilka (KO-6) and a decision win over former world champion, Charles Martin (UD-10). There is no question that the Polish big man is on the rise and will soon be in line for a title shot, but Arreola seems to be taking this fight very seriously and he may have one good fight left in him.
Arreola was the fighter on the rise at one time and had the division not been owned by the Klitschkos at the time, he may have found some heavyweight gold. He would go into a world title showdown with Vitali Klitschko in 2009 in a losing effort, but found his way back into title contention and got another crack at the title in 2014 in a rematch to a losing effort to Bermane Stiverne. Stiverne would knock out Arreola in six brutal rounds.
Since the defeat to Stiverne, he has gone 3-1, with his only loss to current WBC heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder (TKO-8). In his last fight against Jean Pierre Augustin, he looked great, getting a third round knockout and he will need to be even better against Kownacki.
The fight to look at as we go into this fight was Arreola’s fight against the aggressive contender, Seth Mitchell. At the time, Mitchell was a relative big deal with only one loss that he avenged. He came into the ring with 26-1, but it didn’t matter. Arreola came into the fight in shape and ready for war and blitzed Mitchell, scoring a first round knockout. Arreola has a chance in this Kownacki fight because he won’t have to look for his opponent. This is two freight trains colliding and if Arreola can land and land well, we may see an up and down fight and maybe even an upset.
Kownacki is younger and has more left in the tank. That is not a secret, but Arreola always puts up a big fight. You have to earn the victory and he gave Wilder some issues and lasted 8 rounds and would battle Stiverne with a lot of heart. I suspect this fight will be much like the Stiverne fights. We will see the two exchanging some heavy blows that may even see both men on the floor. When the dust settles, youth will prevail and we will see Kownacki stop Arreola in the middle to later rounds from an accumulation of punches. Arreola may even have his corner stop the fight.
Whatever happens Saturday night, this should be one of those fun fights that electrify the fans and make us remember why we love the sweet science.
