By Ian S Palmer
Veteran American heavyweight Chris Arreola of Los Angeles will be taking on unbeaten Adam Kownacki of Poland this Saturday, August 3rd at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The 12-round bout can be seen live in North America on the Fox network. Kownacki last fought in January when he halted Gerald Washington in the second stanza. Meanwhile, Arreola’s last action came in March when he stopped Jean Pierre Augustin in the third round.
Arreola is now 38 years old and will climb into the ring with a record of 38-5-1 with 33 Kos. He certainly has better-than-average power for a heavyweight with a current knockout ratio of 72 per cent. Arreola isn’t the biggest heavyweight around, but he’s not small either as he stands 6-feet-3-inches in height with a 76-inch reach. He’s fought 210 rounds since turning pro in 2003 and has beaten the likes of Damian Wills, Cliff Couser, Chazz Witherspoon, Travis Walker, Jameel McCline, Brian Minto, Joey Abell and Seth Mitchell.
His five defeats have come at the hands of current WBC champion Deontay Wilder as well as former world champions Tomasz Adamek, Vitali Klitschko and Bermane Stiverne. He’s been stopped three times as Wilder halted him in eight rounds in 2016, Klitschko stopped him in the 10th round in 2009 and Stiverne stopped him in the sixth round of their rematch in 2014 after berating him by a 12-round unanimous decision three years earlier.
Arreola’s draw was a 10-round affair with Fred Kassi in 2015. He’s also fought to no decisions against Travis Kauffman and Friday Ahunanya after testing positive for marijuana. Arreola is more or less a one-dimensional fighter but he’s pretty good at that dimension. He’s an exciting, fan-friendly boxer who doesn’t mind slugging it out and taking two punches to land one of his own. He’s been stopped a few times but still has a better-than-average chin.
The 30-year-old Kownacki has a perfect mark of 19-0 and has 15 big Kos under his belt. He also stands 6-feet-3-inches tall and owns a 76-inch reach so is the same size as Arreola. Kownacki turned pro back in 2009 and has boxed just 76 rounds since then. He’s quite powerful and his current knockout stands at an impressive 79 per cent. He now fights out of Brooklyn and was a pretty good Golden Gloves boxer back in his amateur days. He isn’t a muscular, ripped boxer, but so far his body shape hasn’t had a negative impact on him.
Kownacki has displayed a solid chin up to now but his lack of experience against upper grade boxers is pretty evident. However, he did beat former world champion Charles Martin by 10-round unanimous decision last year and also stopped fellow countryman Artur Szpilka in the fourth round in July, 2017. He’s also beaten the likes of Washington, Joshua Tufte, Jesse Barboza and Danny Kelly. In fact, just 11 of his 19 opponents have had winning records. Kownacki simply lets his fists to the talking and isn’t interested in hearing what the judges have to say. So far his style has produced some pretty entertaining fights.
Prediction…
This should be an entertaining fight and there could be a knockdown or two along the way as both fighters have an attacking mentality and plenty of power to boot. Whoever lands the first hard, heavy shot will have the advantage and this bout will come down to power and chins. Both boxers will be trying to land some big shots soon as possible and will likely just keep on throwing them. Most fans will be surprised if this fight doesn’t end in a knockout and there’s a good chance it will. Both Arreola and Kownacki are powerful punchers but Kownacki has displayed a better chin up to now, albeit against lesser skilled boxers than Arreola has faced. I’m expecting Kownacki to take advantage of the eight year edge in age and emerge with a victory.
