War in New York goes to Kownacki. Pole defeated Arreola and broke CompuBox records

In the first main event of his career, at a gala in New York, Adam Kownacki (20-0, 15 KO) defeated Chris Arreola (38-6-1, 33 KO) after a grueling battle. The Pole won the vacant IBF Intercontinental heavyweight title.

As expected, the war began from the opening bell. Adam landed a hard right hook in just the tenth second. In the first round, both men landed cleanly upstairs several times, but the Pole’s bombs carried greater impact. He also worked well with his left jab.

The second round was even more intriguing. Kownacki forced Arreola onto the back foot. The American answered with powerful hooks, but Adam took them without blinking and continued to press forward. In the pocket, he landed short uppercuts. One of them hurt his opponent early in the third round. Arreola was losing, but remained dangerous and answered forcefully. He focused on body shots, trying to weaken the Polish warrior’s attacks. Kownacki’s pressure, however, never let up.

Only in the fourth round did the pace drop somewhat, which Arreola used to his advantage. He landed more accurately, and after the bell he raised his hand, further psyching himself up. Adam controlled the situation, although he was clearly going through a minor crisis. After the break, the Pole greeted his opponent with a right hook. He started the round well, but Arreola finished slightly better. It was a difficult round to score.

Fortunately, the sixth round was much better. “Babyface” opened it with a left-right combination and repeated it several times. Once again, he dictated the pace. Arreola absorbed a lot, but had no intention of giving up. He continued to answer dangerously. He won the seventh round because Adam treated it as something of a rest period. In the eighth, Kownacki extended the distance and began using his legs. When he stayed farther from his opponent, he performed better. It was close, but he won the round 10-9.

At the beginning of the ninth round, Kownacki landed a hard right hook. Arreola also seemed to be having problems with his left hand. Adam dominated this stretch and landed punches, although his shots were already lacking some of their dynamism. He started the tenth round well, rested a little later on, and punctuated the closing moments with a longer combination along the ropes.

One-armed Arreola won the eleventh round. He threw only right hooks, yet still managed to find openings in the Pole’s guard. The final three minutes were another brawl, though not as spectacular as at the start. Both men were simply very tired by then. The judges unanimously awarded Kownacki the victory, scoring it 118-110 and 117-111 twice.

Kownacki and Arreola gave the fans a fierce fight and, in the process, produced record statistics. CompuBox reported that they broke two heavyweight records. They threw the most punches in the history of heavyweight bouts—2,172 in total. They also landed the most punches—667.

Punch statistics: Kownacki 369/1047 (35%) – Arreola 298/1125 (27%).

source: bokser.org