Adam Kownacki was looking forward to inching closer to a world title opportunity. Robert Helenius made sure Kownacki's Saturday night turned into "The Nordic Nightmare" instead.
Helenius shocked Kownacki with a fourth-round TKO in front of a home crowd for Kownacki at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Helenius' upset marked Kownacki's first pro loss, and it couldn't have happened at a worse time for the Polish fighter, considering the bout was a WBA heavyweight title eliminator.
Early on, Kownacki showed his usual ability of walking through his opponent's punches, but Helenius made sure he paid for it in the fourth round. He dropped Kownacki with a left hand that was ruled a slip, but he knew that he hurt his opponent and kept the thudding, heavier punches coming with full force. Seconds later, Helenius used a simple right-left combination to drop Kownacki, who fell in a heap.
When Kownacki got up off the mat, "The Nordic Nightmare" smothered him with a barrage of punches until the referee ended the bout.
Just like that, Helenius (30-3, 19 KOs) — and not Kownacki (20-1, 15 KOs) — had inched toward a possible world title shot against unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, who holds the WBA, IBF and WBO titles.
The victory also marked a savory moment in the 36-year-old Helenius' career, considering he fell short against marquee opponents such as Gerald Washington and Dillian Whyte in the past.
Efe Ajagba devastates Razvan Cojanu with ninth-round TKO
Ajagba made sure Cojanu's night kept getting worse as their bout went on. The rising heavyweight prospect had been laying a savage beating on Cojanu before making the Romanian fighter take a knee in the eighth round. A round later, two big right hooks brought Cojanu to a knee again, and the referee ended the fight.
A sign of the devastation: Ajagba (13-0, 11 KOs) landed 244 punches to Cojanu's 83.