Adam Kownacki

On 7 March 2020, Kownacki faced Robert Helenius in a WBA title eliminator. While Kownacki was the heavy favorite, Helenius pulled off a significant upset by stopping Kownacki in the fourth round, handing him his first professional loss. The victory lined up Helenius as the mandatory challenger for titlist Anthony Joshua.

On 26 January 2019 Kownacki faced Gerald Washington. Kownacki knocked out Washington at the beginning of 2nd round. In his second bout of 2019, on 3 August at the Barclays Center, New York, Kownacki defeated Chris Arreola by unanimous decision (118-100, 117–111, 117-111), winning the IBF Inter-Continental heavyweight title. The fight broke the CompuBox record for the most combined punches thrown (2,172) and landed (667) in a heavyweight fight.

Kownacki's first fight of 2018 was against Iago Kiladze, at the Barclays Center, New York, on the undercard of Errol Spence vs Lamont Peterson. He won the fight by knockout in the sixth round. On 8 September 2018 he faced former IBF heavyweight world champion Charles Martin. After a close ten round fight, Kownacki won by unanimous decision with all judges scoring the bout 96–94 in favor of Kownacki. The bout was a part of the undercard for Danny García vs Shawn Porter at the Barclays Center, New York.

He then went on to face Joshua Tufte on 14 January 2017, who he knocked out in the second round. On 15 July 2017 at the Nassau Coliseum in New York, he faced former world title challenger Artur Szpilka. Szpilka represented Kownacki's toughest opponent to date. He knocked out Szpilka in the 4th round.

His first fight of 2015 was against Randy Easton, who he knocked out in the first round. His next fight took place on 29 May, where he beat Ytalo Perea by unanimous decision over 8 rounds, the first time he had gone the distance in his professional career. His next fight was against Maurenzo Smith on 1 August, at the Barclays Center, New York. He knocked Maurenzo out in the second round. His last fight of 2015 was a unanimous decision win over Rodney Hernandez. Kownacki fought twice in 2016, with a unanimous decision over Danny Kelly and a knockout win against Jesse Barboza.

Kownacki made his professional debut on 30 October 2009, at the PAL Gym in New York, United States, where he knocked out Carossee Auponte in the first round. His first fight of 2010 was against Tyyab Beale, which he won by knockout in the second round. He went on to fight twice more in 2010, knocking out Yohan Banks and Damon Clement. He fought once in 2013, beating Calbert Lewis by knockout in the second round. Kownacki next fought on 29 March 2014, against Excell Holmes, who he knocked out in the second round. Kownacki went on to get knockout wins against Charles Ellis and Jamal Woods to finish off the year.

Kownacki started training at Gleason's Gym at the age of 16. He first won the New York Golden Gloves heavyweight tournament at the age of 17. He then went on to be the runner up in 2007 and 2008, then won the tournament for the second time in 2009.

Kownacki was born in Łomża, Poland. He moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1996, along with his parents and brothers. He was 7 years old at the time. He has stated that he grew up watching Andrew Golota fights, which got him interested in boxing. He graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn in 2007.

Adam Kownacki (born 27 March 1989) is a Polish professional boxer. As of February 2020, Kownacki is ranked as the world's tenth best active heavyweight by The Ring magazine.