Last night at The Prudential Center in New Jersey, a heavyweight fight took place, one that might have enjoyed a bigger TV audience had the fistic festivities in Las Vegas not been taking place on the same night. Unbeaten Polish giant Damian Knyba, all 6’8” of him, faced countryman Andrzej Wawrzyk, this in something of a grudge-match.
Much the younger man at age 29 to ring veteran Wawrzyk’s 37 years, Knyba wound up scoring a relatively straightforward stoppage win. In the third round, Knyba landed a counter right hand to the head that dropped Wawrzyk heavily. The ageing warrior bravely beat the count but his corner threw in the white towel of surrender moments later.
Time was 2:21 of round three, and Knyba is now 15-0(9), while Wawrzyk, who may have to think very seriously about calling it a career, falls to 34-5(20).
Trained by Sean George, Knyba scored the kind of patient and impressive win the two had worked on. Knyba has shown real power so far in his pro career and it will be interesting to see if he can level some better opposition when he makes the expected move up in class. Next up, the plan is for Knyba, who is promoted by Top Rank, to return to action some time in the summer. Interestingly, there is some talk of a possible fight between Knyba and fellow unbeaten Top Rank big man Richard Torrez Jr. That would be a potential treat for us fans, and one of the two big guys would likely fall, but this would for sure be pretty risky match-making, on the part of both fighters’ teams.
The winner, however, would have made some significant noise. Knyba, who had a good amateur career, is without doubt a heavyweight puncher to keep an eye on.
Last night’s fight was of great interest to Polish fans, but in the end there was only going to be one winner. Knyba will hopefully have a far more active 2025 compared to 2024, when he boxed just once.
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