By Przemek Garczarczyk

Unbeaten 6’7 heavyweight Damian “Polish Hussar” Knyba (10-0, 6 KOs) will have his first bout as a Top Rank fighter this Saturday on the big Shakur Stevenson vs. Shuichiro Yoshino world title card at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Knyba, who knows how to handle heavy equipment – was a promising shot put athlete! – and can’t wait to unload some heavy punches on Curtis Harper (14-8, 9 KOs).

Damian, let’s start with something different. April 8 is Easter Eve Saturday, a big religious holiday in Poland, associated with spending time with family, not in the ring. You’ve been in the US for the last 5 weeks – how are you handling that?

Fighting on Big Saturday…it’s a first time for me, but also no problem at all – I’m 100 percent concentrated on boxing. This is my job. I’m prepared and will celebrate a win on Big Saturday. I know that Polish fans will be there to support me at the Prudential Center in Newark.

Having a training camp in the US it’s nothing new for you, but this time Team Knyba is joined by new trainer Shaun George. How did you find each other?

We met for the first time when I was invited to Zhilei Zhang’s training camp. Shaun is his trainer and from the beginning suggested that he wants to work together. I liked not only his way of training, how to develop my style but also the whole idea of what we can do in the future. In Poland, we were mostly about my physical attributes, but in the US, from the start, when I arrived in his gym, it was about technique, my own style. We worked hard – four weeks of sparring, 12 training sessions a week.

What could we expect from you on Saturday vs. Curtis Harper?

Patience, knowing when to let my hands go, hit hard with the right when Curtis will try to get close. I like fighters like him: Shaun wants me to not move so much, be more like a typical heavyweight: set my rival in, and finish him with something hard. We know that, especially in the first couple of rounds, he will be dangerous, trying to hit me with some KO punches. I also have to be aware of his roughhousing… Harper likes to use his head, hits late when losing control of the fight. I will be stupid to be part of that.

Did you watch Harper fights?

Some of them, yes, but it’s up to the coach to make suggestions about what’s important for me and what is not. I trust him.

You said many times that you want to fight three times a year and are ready for better fighters. Curtis Harper is just that – how much better are you now than 6 months ago?

Better, but there is so much more to learn. Not moving like an amateur fighter is one thing we worked on, better jab, defense and right hand because of my past – training shot put. Completely different movement, especially when preparing to punch someone, but we worked on that. I’m ready to fight two more times in 2023 but of course, everything starts on Saturday in the Prudential Center in Newark. It’s an honor to fight underneath a world champion like Shakur Stevenson or big-time HW prospect Jarred Anderson. I will be ready, no doubt.