Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder aren’t the only undefeated fighters at heavyweight to drop their ‘0’ of late as a further happened in a Brooklyn shocker on Saturday.
Adam Kownacki, top-rated with several of the sanctioning bodies, was halted by Scandinavian beast Robert Helenius.
‘BabyFace’ was dropped in the fourth round and eventually saved to fight another day.
Joshua lost his perfect record against Andy Ruiz Jr. when humbled back in June 2019. Fury took Wilder’s last month in Las Vegas with a masterful performance.
Others to go recently include Oscar Rivas (controversially against Dillian Whyte) and Sergey Kuzmin (opposite Michael Hunter last September).
Helenius (30-3, 19 KOs) scored an upset victory in what was a WBA heavyweight title eliminator headlining FOX PBC Fight Night and on FOX Deportes Saturday night from Barclays Center.
After the triumph, ‘The Nordic Nightmare’ had this to say:
“I want to thank everyone who gave me this opportunity,” said Helenius. “Kownacki is a tough fighter. I worked hard in training camp and it paid off.”
Brooklyn’s Kownacki was fighting for the 10th time at Barclays Center in front of his hometown crowd. He was unable to keep the taller Helenius off of him after being hurt early in the fourth.
.@AKbabyface and Helenius' Round 2 is straight 🔥#KownackiHelenius pic.twitter.com/HCT0zLV39n
— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) March 8, 2020
A clean Helenius right hook hurt Kownacki before a left hook put Kownacki down.
“I knew that I hit him hard and I knew I just had to continue,” said Helenius. “I knew he was still hurt after that punch.
“Kownacki just kept coming and coming. He’s a good fighter I have to give it to him. My strength is to punch back when people come at me. It was a good fight and a tremendous opportunity for me to be here.”
WHAT A SHOT! 😳
Robert Helenius drops @AKbabyface in Round 4. #KownackiHelenius pic.twitter.com/a8rmQKYf9S
— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) March 8, 2020
While Kownacki outpaced Helenius landing 84 punches to 49 according to CompuBox, it was Helenius’ 12 power punches landed in round four that made the difference.
Helenius kept up the relentless attack, consistently hurting Kownacki and pushing him around the ring until referee David Fields waved off the fight 1:08 into the round.
“It wasn’t my night,” said Kownacki. “It’s boxing. It’s a tough sport and things just didn’t go my way tonight. It was a learning experience and I’m going to go back to the drawing board and get back to work.
“He hit me with a good shot. I knew what was going on, but I’m just upset with myself. It is what it is.”
