Greg Leon: What's the latest and greatest? It's been a while since we had you on Boxingtalk. When can we expect you back in the ring? Adam Kownacki: "I'm looking to get back into the ring in January or February, right now I'm just waiting for the date." Greg Leon: So pretty much your are sticking with standard operating procedure because for the last four years you've been going twice a year, basically once every six to eight months. AK: "And that kind of makes it hard for me to be at my best because there's too much time between camps and it's hard to get motivated again." 

 

GL: Really? You're gunning for your first title shot, it shouldn't be that hard to get motivated. 

 

AK: "It's not that hard, but I feel like I should be fighting more often because it would help me get to where I want to be. It's starting to get crazy to where I can't really walk in the street without being noticed. The other day the UPS guy drove by and put his truck in reverse, pulled up and asked, 'are you Adam Kowancki?' [laughs]"

 

GL: Is that the kind of thing you dreamed of when you first put the gloves on?

 

AK: "I was always like a sports fan so I thought it would be cool, but I never thought it was going to start to get like this. It's cool though."

 

GL: What did you think about the recent Tyson Fury win over Otto Wallin? Did [Wallin's] competitive effort surprise you?

 

AK: "No. I sparred with Otto before so I knew he could fight, and he caught him with a good shot that opened his eye and it took Tyson a little while to adjust. What shocked me was that Otto hurt him in the last round. I'm happy for Otto and I think boxing is in the right place right now. There's great fights being made and people are thinking fights are easy because they only know one fighter, but there's some great matches getting made. People looked past Otto and it turned out to be a great fight, hopefully boxing gets more and more publicity and great fights continue to get made. I thought my fight with Arreola was going to be the fight of the year, but then Errol Spence and Shawn Porter just had a great fight. There's so many great fights happening this year and it's just a great time to be a boxing fan."

 

GL: Did that performance by Wallin put him on your radar to be a potential opponent for your next fight?

 

AK: "We'll see. I let my managers take care of that. I'm in good hands with Al Haymon and Keith Connolly."

 

GL: Who do you like in the Deontay Wilder- Luis Ortiz rematch?

 

AK: "I think Wilder is going to take it. Ortiz didn't look too great in his last fight, but you can't count anybody out in boxing. One punch can get you that next big paycheck and everybody is fighting to feed their families so we'll see."

 

GL: What about Andy Ruiz-Anthony Joshua II?

 

AK: "I'm going with Ruiz, I hope he pulls it out."

 

GL: You hope he pulls it out, do you think he pulls it out?

 

AK: "I don't know where Joshua is at mentally and that's the key. I think it's a 50-50 fight and I want to see how Joshua will fight. I was surprised that he was running away from Ruiz in the first fight. Like how do you let a smaller man walk you down?" (laughs) 

 

GL: Will you finally get your title shot in 2020?

 

AK: "That's the million dollar question. It's what I want and that's kind of why the motivation is kind of lacking. The title fight is what I want but I know I've got to wait at least one more fight because everybody is booked up and I don't want to wait till August to be back in the ring again.

 

GL: After looking at your fight with Arreola is there anything you feel you could have done differently to get him out of there?

 

AK: "Yes. I f**ked up. I had my brothers wedding, the birth of my child, I had a lot of things going on and I could have been more focused and not stressed out about a bunch of shit. At least I was able to show everybody that I could last twelve rounds in a high paced fight against a guy that was fighting for his career. He said that 100 times before the fight and I didn't believe him, but after the fight I know he was telling the truth."

 

GL: Closing thoughts for the fans.

 

AK: "2020 is going to be a huge year for me, I can't wait!"