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By Thomas Hauser
On March 7, FOX offered viewers a heavyweight tripleheader from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Frank Sanchez (14-0, 11 KOs), who came out of the Cuban amateur system, was a 10-to-1 favorite over Joey Dawejko (20-7-4, 11 KOs). Efe Ajagba (12-0, 10 KOs), a Nigerian Olympian now living in Texas, was a 30-to-1 favorite over Razvan Cojanu (17-6, 9 KOs). And Adam Kownacki (20-0, 15 KOs) was listed at 20-to-1 over 36-year-old Robert Helenius (29-3, 18 KOs).
Things went according to plan. Until they didn't.
Sanchez, age 27, has been matched professionally against a series of limited opponents. Dawejko, who comes from the Andy Ruiz school of physical conditioning, fit that mold. He's generously listed as 5-feet-10-inches tall and weighed-in for the bout at 247 pounds. He'd also lost three of four fights since 2017.
Don Elbaum promoted Dawejko early in Joey's ring career. At one point, Elbaum thought he might be a prospect Then Dawejko struggled through a stretch when he won once in five fights against ordinary opposition, and Elbaum realized that he'd never get beyond being a club fighter.
Still, Elbaum respects Dawejko. "Let me tell you something," he says. "Joey's not afraid of anybody. Maybe he should be, but he isn't. Joey always gives you everything he has trying to win."
Against Sanchez, everything that Dawejko had wasn't enough. The fight resembled a sparring session. Sanchez, who lacks power but can box, settled into a safety-first, jab-and-move mode. Dawejko plodded forward but rarely landed cleanly and didn't have the power to hurt Sanchez on the all-too-few occasions when he did hit him.
CompuBox credited Sanchez with outlanding Dawejko by a 116-to-46 margin. Mystifyingly, judge Kevin Morgan gave rounds one and ten to Joey. Those were the only rounds that Dawejko won on any of the judges' scorecards.
Put Dawejko in the ring with a guy like Dawejko and it will be a good fight. Put him in the ring with a guy like Sanchez and it will be a stinker.
Ajagba vs. Cojanu was next up.
Ajagba, age 25, has fought the usual suspects. Cojanu, a 33-year-old Romanian now living in California, has beaten one fighter with a winning record in the past five years and has now lost five of his last six outings while being knocked out in four of them.
In the early rounds, Ajagba kept jabbing and trying to set up his right hand. He has a somewhat wooden style that suggests a fighter who's boxing by the numbers. Cojanu fights in slow motion, throws wide punches, and leans forward, chin out, when he throws them. By round five, there were scattered boos from the crowd. In the press section, more people than usual were checking their smart phones for messages.
Then, in round six, Cojanu tired and Ajagba started landing consistently. By round eight, Razvan was exhausted and dropped to the canvas from an accumulation of blows. That would have been a good time to stop the fight, but referee Ron Lipton chose not to. So Cojanu took an ugly beating until dropping to one knee at the 2:46 mark of round nine when Lipton waved off the carnage. Ajagba had a 244-to-83 advantage in punches landed.
That set the stage for Kownacki-Helenius.
Kownacki who will turn 31 on March 27, is a likeable man with a crowd-pleasing "hit me, and then I'll hit you back, and then we'll hit each other some more" style. In recent years, he has fought a series of overmatched opponents while (some would say) being readied as a sacrificial lamb with the intention of serving him to Deontay Wilder.
Tyson Fury's February 22 knockout victory over Wilder was a setback for Kownacki. Adam had passed on an opportunity to fight Anthony Joshua for what might have been a huge payday at Madison Square Garden last June. Now any world title fight was on a distant horizon.
Helenius, who was born in Sweden and fights out of Finland, was regarded as a "safe" opponent for Kownacki.
Ten years ago, "The Nordic Nightmare" was being groomed as a prospect himself. He beat Lamon Brewster, Samuel Peter, and Sergiy Liakhovich at a time when they'd been reduced to non-threatening opponents and won a controversial split decision over Dereck Chisora in Finland while Chisora was in the midst of a stretch that saw him lose four of five fights. More recently, Helenius had lasted twelve rounds against Dillian Whyte but lost eleven of them. He'd been knocked out by Johann Duhaupas and (eight months ago) Gerald Washington.
Kownacki matches up poorly against slick boxers. Helenius was once described as having the footwork of a stalagmite.
"Beating him doesn't really do a lot for me," Kownacki acknowledged at the final pre-fight press conference, "because I'm a big favorite in this fight."
The crowd at Barclays Center was wholeheartedly behind Kownacki. This was his fifth fight in a row at the venue.
Adam had weighed in for the bout at 265 pounds (one under his career high); Helenius, a trimmer 238.
Earlier in the week, Cliff Rold had made a good point, writing about Kownacki (a volume puncher without much defense), "Watching boxing is supposed to be fun. That’s really the bottom line, isn’t it? A fun fighter is still something to look forward to. Everyone isn’t necessarily going to be the future of their division, a future great, a legacy carver, or any of the other things that can distract from the root of why fans devote time and attention to the sweet science. Saturday night against Helenius, no matter how long it lasts, we’re going to see some leather fly. Isn’t that really all we’re asking for?"
Kownacki won round one against Helenius by coming forward and throwing punches while Robert jabbed ineffectively and held. Round two was closer with Helenius inclined to trade and throwing the straighter punches. The third stanza belonged to Kownacki. He was throwing more and getting off first, outlanding Helenius by a 28-to-8 margin. Then . . .
Twenty seconds into round four, Kownacki got whacked with a straight right hand followed by a stiff jab that sent him to the canvas. He rose immediately, and referee David Fields incorrectly ruled it a slip. That call was soon academic.
Kownacki had been shaken. Five seconds after the action resumed, Helenius dropped him with a straight right hand followed by a left hook up top. Adam was on his feet at the count of three. This time, though, his legs were wobbly. Helenius battered him around the ring, and Fields halted the battle 68 seconds into the round.
Helenius had more left as a fighter than Kownacki and his team had realized. They disrespected him as an opponent and paid the price.
A little more than three months ago, Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz - both Premier Boxing Champions fighters - held all four heavyweight championship belts. And Kownacki was in line for a huge title-bout payday.
After losing to Helenius, Adam was reduced to saying, "It wasn't my night. It's boxing. Things just didn't go my way tonight. He hit me with a good shot. I knew what was going on. I'm just upset with myself. It is what it is."
There are two morals to the story:
(1) Things can change very quickly in boxing.
(2) A fighter should never go into the ring thinking he has an easy fight ahead of him. In boxing, despite the odds, anything can happen.
Thomas Hauser's email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – A Dangerous Journey: Another Year Inside Boxing – was published by the University of Arkansas Press. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. On June 14, 2020, he will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
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