PUNCHER’S CHANCE
LI’s Kownacki hopes Barclays bout leads to shot at the title
Waiting for heavyweight boxer Adam (Babyface) Kownacki is not time wasted. With the 30-year old former Brooklynite now living in Bellmore — Strong Island — and stuck in traffic, you can bide your time listening to explicit rap music. In the background is the rhythmic background noise of the tapa-tapa-tapa of a lone speed bag and the occasional booming thuds of single shots to the black heavy bag inside the ridiculously clean Bellmore Kickboxing MMA Gym.
On the mat, covering most of the floor pace of the gym are two sweaty MMA fighters throwing a weighted dummy and then each other to the floor. No boredom here. When their routine is over, out comes a mop to remove the sweat.
Kownacki arrives bundled up against the cold and sporting a searing 100-watt smile. He unleashes a torrent of apologies about being late. Not to worry, he’s in a hurry to get to his daily workout with trainer Keith Trimble.
It’s an old saying but Kownacki, a former two-time Daily News Golden Gloves champ, is preparing for the biggest fight of his fistic career. On Saturday he’s headlining a 12-round world title eliminator main event of the Premier Boxing Championship card at Barclays Center versus six-foot-six Robert “The Nordic Nightmare” Helenius March 7. The card will air on Fox and Fox Deportes starting at 8 p.m.
It’s a homecoming of sorts for Kownacki. This is his 10th fight and fifth in a row at Barclays. Expect a big following for Kownacki, born in Lomza, Poland, before coming to America at age seven. Problems adjusting?
“No. My family moved into a Polish neighborhood in Greenpoint,” he recalls. He lived in Brooklyn for 13 years. “We had Polish stores, Polish delis. My father never learned to speak English because we lived in a Polish neighborhood.”
And there’s that smile again. You could say it’s a goofy grin, but the smile is his personality. In the ring, we’ll that’s different.
He comes to fight. He’s a brawler at six-foot-three with a record of 20-0 with 15 kayos.
In his last fight at Barclays back in August, Kownacki scored a unanimous decision over Chris Arreola in a bout that saw the fighters break CompuBox records for most combined punches thrown (2,172) and most punches landed (667) in a heavyweight bout.
A win over Helenius would put him the mix to face WBC and linear heavyweight champ Tyson Fury, who stopped Deontay Wilder in seven rounds on Feb. 22.
Helenius has a pro mark of 29-3 with 18 kayos but has been stopped twice. “He’s tall and strong, but he lost to a guy (Gerald Washington) I knocked out in two rounds,” Kownacki says. “On paper it looks easy, but the fight is not on paper. I’m a pressure fighter and that’s the key why I have been so successful.”
Kownacki is working with trainers Keith Trimble and Chris Carson to make sure he’s ready both physically and mentally. The first concern is Helenius’ six-foot-six-inch height and a three-inch reach advantage.
“The basic problem is the reach and getting on the inside. You’ll see a lot of smaller guys trying to land the hook when honestly you just have to out jab the taller person,” states Trimble with a calm demeanor. They’ve been together six years. “[If ] they have one jab, you have to double, triple your jab and don’t head hunt. Don’t jump up and try to hit him in the face. I tell Adam to aim at the neck and go to the body.
“Adam is just of those fighters that will never quit. You’re going to have to beat him down with a sledgehammer.”
Kownacki has come a long way in a short time. He won his first Golden Gloves title at age 17 in 2006. He was a runner up twice in a row then captured the heavyweight title again in 2009. The victories gave him instance street cred.
“It was fun,” he remembers. “I was the coolest guy on the block. I went to Abraham Lincoln High School and it’s known for its basketball program. The guys on the team told me, ‘You the man!’
“Boxing is on a different level. You play basketball … boxing is different.”
He’s seen guys with athletic talent make and many who did not, and he knows why.
“It’s that street life,” he says, matter-offactly. “Growing up in Brooklyn, you taste it a little bit. Luckily, I was able to taste the boxing and get away from [street life].”
He recalls a lot of friends who are locked up and those who didn’t make it.
“If you remember Ronney Vargas,” he says with no smile and his voice trailing off.
Vargas was a young up-and-comer in boxing. A three-time Daily News Golden Gloves champ, he was super welterweight prospect with a record of 8-0 when he was shot dead in the Bronx in 2008.
“It’s sad and you hear these stories all the time,” he states.
Kownacki is on the right path. The married father of six-month old son Katz, he wants to be heavyweight champ of the world, but with an added touch.
“There’s a little joke that six Polish people have tried to win [the heavyweight title],” he says noting the names of Andrew Golota and Tomasz Adamek to name a few. “Six tried and all failed so I’m lucky number seven.”
If he gets past Helenius, he just might get that chance.