2018 is finally off to the races in the sport of boxing. Showtime and PBC’s preliminary bouts on Youtube for tonight’s card headlined by Errol Spence Jr and Lamont Peterson are now in the books. Marcus Browne and Adam Kownacki picked up their expected wins.
Marcus Browne’s (21-0, 15 KOs) demolition of Francy Ntetu (17-2, 4 KOs) did not last long. This was never going to be a competitive fight on paper, sure, but Ntetu had only been down once in his career. Ninety seconds into this fight that number doubled. With Ntetu against the ropes, Marcus Browne unleashed a beautiful combination ending with shots from both hands that sent his opponent face first to the mat. Ntetu rose and there was some confusion with weird refereeing by Arthur Mercante, but Francy was hurt and the fight was called quickly. Ntetu wasn’t responding with work of his own.
Marcus Browne is ready for a world title shot, but there is no easy route in the light heavyweight division given that the belts are currently held by Dmitry Bivol, Artur Beterbiev, Sergey Kovalev, and Adonis Stevenson. Plus, PBC only works with Stevenson in that group and he has a defense lined up against Badou Jack. Browne will have to wait his turn.
After a strong opening flurry from Adam Kownacki (17-0, 14 KOs), Iago Kiladze (26-2, 18 KOs) began boxing really well on the outside in the first round of the broadcast’s first fight. He landed a big body shot that I thought bothered his Pole opponent and then proceeded to move and work well around the ring. The Georgian was downright battering “Baby Face” Kownacki by the end of round one. That continued into round two as well as the house fighter bled his way around the ring while getting tagged repeatedly.
The tone of the fight shifted in the third. Despite Kownacki coming in probably twenty pounds heavier than he should have, Kiladze was the one appearing suddenly tired. He had been moving a lot and the punch output was high from both fighters, but it was still jarring to see after only two rounds of work. The too flabby Polish heavyweight took advantage with two solid right hands to start the fourth round that floored Iago Kiladze. He held a bit and survived the round though. Replays showed his foot was stepped on too, but it was still a good shot.
Kiladze gave back a little better in the fifth, but he still lost it. A really big right hand might have hurt him a bit at the end of the round too. Kownacki was unable to follow up, however. A full buffet of unanswered shots punctuated by a giant uppercut for dessert staggered Kiladze down to the floor in the sixth. He made it to his feet, but the fight was rightfully waved off.
Adam Kownacki did his thing here as a high volume pressure fighter, but boy is he flawed. He brings no defense to the ring. There is no head nor foot movement to speak of. He also needs to come to the ring giving himself the best chance to win. 260 lbs is not that, especially as a pressure fighter where stamina is everything. He would be easy pickings for Joshua or Wilder. The British unified titleholder would beat him down and finish him in the midrounds while Wilder and his freakish one shot power would put Kownacki on highlight reels for years to come. I liked Steve Farhood’s suggestion to see him in with Jarrell Miller next.
