Adam Kownacki pugile

Adam Kownacki (born 27 March 1989) is a Polish professional boxer who held the IBF Inter-Continental heavyweight title in 2019.Kownacki was born in Łomża, Poland. When he was 7 years old, he emigrated to Greenpoint, Brooklyn in 1996 along with his parents and brothers, settling into the large Polish community there. As a youngster, he played a variety of sports, including basketball, baseball, football and soccer. He graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn in 2007.He grew up watching Andrew Golota fights, which got him interested in boxing. As an overweight youngster who spoke English with a Polish accent, he was frequently the target of bullies at school and on the streets, which gave him further motivation to enter the boxing gym. Early in his boxing career, Kownacki had to work in construction and security in nightclubs to support himself.Kownacki started training at Gleason's Gym at the age of 15. He first won the New York Golden Gloves heavyweight tournament in 2006 at the age of 17. He then went on to be the runner up in 2007 and 2008, then won the tournament for the second time in 2009.Kownacki made his professional debut on 30 October 2009, at the PAL Gym in New York, United States, where he knocked out Carossee Auponte in the first round.