By Jake Donovan

A title shot isn’t guaranteed with a win this weekend, but the promise of greater things to come in due time has always been good enough for Adam Kownacki.

That said, it hasn’t at all dampened his enthusiasm to make a major statement in his crossroads bout with three-time heavyweight title challenger Chris Arreola.

“I know I have to beat Chris Arreola to face those big names at the top of the heavyweight division,” Kownacki (19-0, 15KOs) insisted during a recent media conference call to discuss Saturday’s Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Fox headliner.

The bout takes place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn (N.Y.), a region Kownacki has called home since he was seven years old, having relocated from his native Poland. It will mark his fourth straight appearance at the boxing hotspot and ninth overall, all coming within a span of his last 11 fights.

In Arreola (38-5-1, 33KOs) he encounters his fourth career opponent to have previously challenged for a heavyweight title. Charles Martin—who briefly held a title in 2016—was the only of the previous three to go the distance, with Kownacki enduring 10 hard rounds to take a well-earned points win last September at this very venue.

The two other opponents—Artur Szpiika and Gerald Washington—share a common footnote with Arreola as all three have suffered knockout losses in title bids versus Deontay Wilder.

Szpilka held his own with Wilder for eight rounds before landing on the wrong end of a highlight reel knockout in their Jan. 2016 Barclays headliner. Kownacki managed to bump off his countryman in less than half that time, stopping him in the 4th round of their July 2017 Fox-televised clash at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum.

A similar fate met Washington, who was stopped in five rounds in his Feb. 2017 failed title bid versus Wilder, while lasting less than two rounds versus Kownacki this past January.

Now comes the chance to again one-up the unbeaten Alabama slammer, who stopped Arreola in the 8th round of their July 2016 Fox headliner in Birmingham, Ala.

“I think so, we spoke about trying to (outdo Wilder),” admits Kownacki. “I know Chris is a big boy. I know it took Wilder… eight rounds, maybe I can do it in half the time.” 

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox