Trainer: Kownacki ready for ex-champ Martin

By Przemek Garczarczyk

“When I met Adam, he had like five fights or so. In five years, I did see a boy with an unbelievable strength of character, no fear and you need a sledgehammer to make him feel pain maybe. I’m just adding some boxing to that,” says trainer Keith Trimble, who works with undefeated Polish-born, Brooklyn-raised heavyweight Adam Kownacki.

Kownacki (17-0, 14 KOs) will fight former IBF heavyweight champion of the world Charles Martin (25-1, 23 KOs) on the big Danny Garcia vs. Shawn Porter WBC welterweight clash – live on Saturday 8 at Barclays Center on Showtime Boxing.Are you mad that for some (mostly Polish fans) Kownacki vs. Martin is described as “easy, already in the bag?”

It’s always stupid to talk like that in boxing, in the heavyweight division…and when it comes to this fight, in particular. Everyone at a certain level steps into the ring to win. Especially in Martin’s case. He’s a fighter who lost only once against WBA/IBF/WBO champion of the world Anthony Joshua.

Styles make fights. Martin likes to counterpunch from defense, Kownacki goes forward and throws hundreds of punches.

We all know Charles Martin’s style. I will not tell you some bullshit about spending 400 hours watching his tapes every night, analyzing his every move. Why would I? We know he will wait for Adam and try to counterpunch him. Everything else will be just a small piece in this big plan. What’s to analyze?! Martin is supposed to dance around Adam for ten rounds, pepper him with shots and win on points. He may stick with this plan for a couple of rounds, then it will be a slaughterhouse. I’m still mad about TV commentators talking for two rounds about Kownacki’s supposed bad physical preparations…and then changing their tune quickly when Babyface started to dominate. Then they were downplaying Kownacki’s win, saying that he’s really a cruiserweight, this and that.

I’m asking a simple question: who is hiring Freddy Roach, spends 40K on training camp thinking they will lose? Let’s not complicate what’s going to happen on September 8. Adam goes forward, gets hit and hits back harder. This is boxing, not some prom night, people hit hard, not touch each other. The winner will be the one who has bigger balls, who is tougher, never surrenders. Kownacki doesn’t know this word.

Martin, another southpaw for Kownacki?

Not easy to find a sparring partner with Martin’s style and being a southpaw. There are some, but they’re lazy and don’t want to work in the camp versus Adam who goes 100 percent all the time. Kownacki has changed. People are missing that. He was already better, but not great defensively against Szpilka. Szpilka was also a southpaw, and we all know how it ended. It’s funny. For years, trainers and fighters have a plan how to fight “easy to hit” Kownacki. And they’re surprised when they’re down and asking themselves what happened. We are laughing.

Is there a special ingredient in the trust you always had with Adam?

Truth. Not everyone can handle it. If something goes wrong during the fight, I will be the first one in the corner asking “what the f..k is going on?”. Kownacki knows that the truth thing goes both ways. I was never a fan of fighters who are going around different gyms asking everyone how they should train, what’s the best way to be good. If you do that to your trainer, it’s time to part ways. Adam is who he is. Nothing more, nothing less. He doesn’t have ten faces just in case he could benefit financially from that.

I’m the same for everyone who I work with – no matter what will happen, win or lose. I have two MMA guys, Andre Harrison who is 19-0 and Gregor Gillespie who is 12-0 in UFC. We are family – for real. Some of the fighters call my wife “Mom.” I feel like I’m their father. Again, no matter what will happen to their careers, fighters can count on my support.

When I met Adam, he had like five fights or so. In five years, I did see a boy with an unbelievable strength of character, no fear and you need a sledgehammer to make him feel pain maybe. I’m just adding some boxing to that. Because strength of character, no fear attitude and mental toughness … this is what boxing is!