Not every fat Andy Ruiz Jr. 5 defeats in a row, 4 of which were by knockout. It's time for retirement, I won't say it's time for him to end his career, because this is already the end.
Always liked Kownacki - but it was always pretty clear to me that PBC signed him and developed him as a ticket seller in NYC to the big Polish fan base, specifically to maneuver him into some kind of PPV event with Wilder. Knowing that Wilder was running out of ways to avoid true threats, and that Kownacki would’ve been made to measure for him. Note how quickly they made the Helenius fight after he KO’d Kownacki - just making the best of a bad situation. he seems like a good guy and was always really fun to watch. Was never gonna compete with the top guys though realistically. And I don’t mean that as a diss, just levels.
He was over in Poland on a holiday and thought he'd pick up a few bucks, but it turned out bad. This content is protected
Kownacki needs to call it a day, the guy made for fun fights but he's losing to guys he shouldn't be losing to at this point. His fight with Arreola was brutal.
Yes it was pretty clear at the time that PBC were grooming Kownacki to be a challenger for Wilder. While other PBC heavyweights were struggling to get fights with anyone with name recognition, Kownacki got to face other PBC heavies Martin, Washington and Arreola to pad his record, so was getting preferential treatment. I think they thought the first Helenius loss was due to simply being careless as Kownacki was doing well early on and so did many people as I recall plenty of people here picking Kownacki to win the rematch. Had Kownacki been able to reverse the loss, he might have gotten his shot, but by then he was already shot, the war with Arreola and the KO to Helenius ended his prime. Yeah he seemed like a good guy, though his lack of discipline was always a red flag, his best performance was probably vs Szplika when he weighed 242lbs but after that win catapulted him into the attention of the boxing world, his weight just crept up and up and he even said in one interview he felt better at a higher weight, which was him lying to himself because he never again looked as good as he did vs Szpilka.
I remember the outrage when Helenius signed a rematch against Kownacki because of the opposite trajectories they were supposedly going in. Helenius wiped him out again before getting starched Wilder and AJ
I will always have respect for Owen Beck because the same weekend that he challenged Nicolay Valuev for the WBA Heavyweight title, Corrales and Castillo were supposed to fight again at 135, and the fight was called off because Castillo came in at 139. Four pounds over the limit. Four pounds. Beck fought Valuev the same day and gave up roughly 80 POUNDS. I've always been a fan of the bigger fighters, and I loved the first Corrales-Castillo fight, but, to me, it was just another example of how much braver the heavyweights are compared to the lighter classes. People will make all the excuses in the world for a lighter boxer losing to someone only a handful of pounds heavier than him. But if a heavyweight gives up close to 100 pounds and loses, some fans just call the smaller guy a bum and dismiss him. Beck was a good fighter, until the beatings took their toll. Same with Kownacki. (Side note: I've met Ray Austin in person. That guy was a beast. A normal person would never want to get bashed around by that guy for 12 rounds.)
I suspect he and Miller were too confident, talking about how they will shake up the HW division. It's karma. This content is protected