By: Sean Crose
An interesting fight (at least on paper) on Saturday’s Fury-Wilder undercard was the heavyweight rematch between Brooklyn’s 20-1 Adam Kownacki and Finland’s 30-3 Robert Helenius. The two men met in a scheduled twelve round affair. Helenius had previously stopped Kownacki back in March of 2020.
Helenius was able to keep away from his man in the opening portion of the first. He caught Kownacki in the later half of the round and looked like he might end the night early. Kownacki, however, was able to survive the round. To his credit, Kownacki pushed forward gamely in the second, though his left eye was already puffy. Helenius hurt Kownacki in the third, but ended up taking a low blow for his efforts. An angry Helenius needed a minute or so to recover.
The fourth saw Kownacki looking entirely beaten up. Another low blow cost Kownacki a point in the fifth. No body shot was going to stop Helenius at that point, however. The bout was wisely stopped in the fifth due to another low blow from Kownacki.
