By Ian S Palmer
There’s a 10-round heavyweight tilt on tap this Saturday, January 26th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York as undefeated Adam Kownacki of Poland will be taking on Gerald Washington of San Jose, California. The bout can be seen live in North America in Fox, Fox Sports 1 and Fox Deportes and on ITV 4 in the UK. Kownacki last fought in September when he beat Charles Martin by an exciting 10-round unanimous decision. Washington’s last outing came in June when he topped John Wesley Nofire by a 10-round unanimous decision.
The 29-year-old Kownacki is unbeaten at 18-0 and has 14 big Kos under his belt. He stands 6-feet-3-inches tall and owns a 76-inch reach. Kownacki turned pro back in 2009 and has boxed just 74 rounds since then. He’s quite powerful and and his current knockout stands at an impressive 78 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 Martin and also stopped fellow countryman Artur Szpilka in the fourth round in July, 2017. He’s also beaten the likes of Joshua Tufte, Jesse Barboza and Danny Kelly. In fact, just 10 of his 18 opponents have had winning records. Kownacki simply likes to let 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.
The 36-year-old Washington is 19-2-1 and has 12 Kos to his name. He’s the bigger boxer here as he’s 6-feet-6-inches tall and has a wingspan of 82 inches, giving him a three-inch edge in height and six-inch advantage in reach. He’s not a knockout artist, but has decent power with a current knockout ratio of 55 per cent. However he has just two stoppages in his last nine contests. He’s fought 101 rounds since turning pro in 2012. His two losses were to Deontay Wilder by fifth-round stoppage in February 2017 in a WBC Title shot and Jarrell Miller halted him after eight rounds five months later.
Washington has taken on some recognizable names in the heavyweight division such as Wilder, Miller, Ray Austin, Eddie Chambers, Jason Gavern, Nagy Aguilera, Sherman Williams and Travis Walker. His draw was a 10-round affair with Amir Mansour in October of 2015. Washington is a former football player and member of the U.S. Navy, but didn’t turn pro until he was 30 years old. However, he’s beaten some decent opponents up to now.
Prediction…
Washington needs to land something hard and heavy before Kownacki does to gain some confidence and earn some respect. He needs to keep Kownacki on the back foot so he’s not allowed to take the fight to Washington, but he’s not a naturally aggressive boxer. Washington has the better boxing skills here, but the weaker chin. He needs to use his size advantage to box Kownacki on the outside, but I think Kownacki’s power punches will eventually turn the fight his way.
