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It was lone 2 weeks aft the 2nd combat betwixt Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder that Adam Kownacki suffered the archetypal nonaccomplishment of his career.
Kownacki, heavy favored to bushed journeyman Robert Helenius, was stopped successful the 4th circular of their Barclays Center main event. Nineteen months later, Kownacki volition person a changeable to nonstop his revenge arsenic 1 of the centerpieces of a loaded undercard connected Saturday nighttime astatine T-Mobile Arena.
“I’ve been grooming precise hard for this fight, and it’s a do-or-die combat for me,” Kownacki said this week. “I’ve got to triumph this combat to beryllium past clip was conscionable an mishap astatine work.”
Here’s a speedy rundown of what to expect connected the astir anticipated combat paper of 2021. The pay-per-view undercard, featuring exclusively heavyweight fights, volition commencement astatine 6 p.m.
Frank Sanchez vs Efe Ajagba
The information that this combat is adjacent happening should beryllium celebrated. In Saturday’s co-feature, 2 undefeated heavyweight prospects volition spell head-to-head. Like the main event, the matchup pits a Top Rank combatant (Ajagba) against a Premier Boxing Champions combatant (Sanchez).
Sanchez (18-0, 13 KOs, 1 NC), who trains with Eddy Reynoso’s loaded unchangeable that besides includes Canelo Alvarez, Ryan Garcia and Oscar Valdez, is the flimsy favorite. The Cuban is simply a creaseless puncher who volition astir apt triumph rounds with his boxing ability. If the combat hits the scorecards, chances are he’ll get his manus raised.
Ajagba is an breathtaking knockout artist, celebrated for scoring the fastest triumph successful boxing past erstwhile his opponent, Curtis Harper, walked retired of the ringing close aft the opening bell.
He’s besides shown superior vulnerabilities, having been knocked down by Iago Kiladze successful their 2019 bout earlier getting up to yet halt the Georgian.
Robert Helenius vs Adam Kownacki
Before their archetypal fight, Kownacki (20-1, 15 KOs) was being lined up arsenic a imaginable foe for Wilder. He throws a precocious fig of punches and seems mostly disinterested successful defense.
That’s precisely what caused him problems against Helenius, who was nary much than a nonrecreational hostile for Kownacki. After absorbing punishment for a fewer rounds, Helenius (30-3, 19 KOs) turned up his discourtesy and repeatedly wounded Kownacki, stunning the assemblage successful Brooklyn.
The rematch has been delayed clip and clip again, but the 2 volition yet tally it backmost connected Saturday night.
Jared Anderson vs Vladimir Tereshkin
Boxing fans volition get different up-close look astatine Anderson, possibly the champion existent American heavyweight prospect. Tereshkin (22-0-1, 12 KOs), though, represents a measurement up successful contention and should marque for an intriguing benignant clash.
Anderson (9-0, 9 KOs) is coming disconnected a highlight-reel knockout of Jeremiah Karpency successful April, portion Tereshkin has not fought successful astir 2 years.
Rest of the card
The non-pay-per-view undercard besides features a slew of large names.
Undefeated ace middleweight imaginable Edgar Berlanga (17-0, 16 KOs), who began his vocation with 16 consecutive first-round KOs, volition conscionable Marcelo Esteban Coceres (30-2-1, 16 KOs). Former unified ace welterweight champion Julian Williams (27-2-1, 16 KOs) volition marque his long-awaited ringing instrumentality erstwhile helium faces Vladimir Hernandez (12-4, 6 KOs).
Both of those bouts volition beryllium shown unrecorded connected ESPN2 and FS1 starting astatine 7 p.m. EST.
Two-time Olympic golden medalist Robeisy Ramirez (7-1, 4 KOs) volition conscionable Orlando Gonzalez Ruiz (17-0, 10 KOs) successful a combat that volition watercourse connected the ESPN and Fox Sports apps.
Contact Jonah Dylan astatine jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan connected Twitter.
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