After a bitter result in his last fight, Vito Mielnicki Jnr is returning to his home state with a chip on his shoulder.
Mielnicki, 20-1-1 (12 KOs), saw a 12-fight winning streak end in his last fight in February, when he had to settle for a majority draw against unbeaten middleweight Connor Coyle at Madison Square Garden. One judge scored the fight in his favor, 96-94, while the other two had it even at 95 apiece.
While the 23-year-old Mielnicki wasn’t pleased with how he fought, he still feels he should have had his hand raised.
“I didn’t fight my best. In my eyes I fought like shit, to be honest with you,” said Mielnicki, who is from Roseland, New Jersey. “The fight that I fought was unacceptable, I didn’t follow the game plan we had going in and I made the fight more difficult than it needed to be, and even in that case I still know I won. I’ve watched that fight back plenty of times, audio on and audio off, that’s in the past now but I still feel that I won that fight.”
Had Mielnicki won that fight, he would have picked up three regional belts and boosted his ranking in three of the four sanctioning bodies at 160lbs. Now, Mielnicki will get a chance to jump into contention by facing a different unbeaten European fighter when he meets Kamil Gardzielik in the ten-round main event at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The fight, which will be broadcast live on ESPN+, will have those WBC, WBO and IBF regional belts at stake as well.
Gardzielik, 19-0 (4 KOs), is from Warsaw, Poland and will be fighting outside of his home country for the first time in his nine-year pro career. Mielnicki describes the 32-year-old Gardzielik as having a “European style” of darting in and out with his punches, while citing his international amateur experience among the reasons why he’ll be a serious test.
“Even though he’s fought over the pond and most of his fights have been in Poland, he’s been in some tough fights as well. Everybody has their own way of being a test for you, but this guy is a talented fighter, he’s undefeated and he knows how to win. That’s always a challenge for anyone for anybody who gets in there,” said Mielnicki.
For this camp, Mielnicki says he has clicked well with trainer Ronnie Shields in Houston, while sparring with local fighters Marquis Taylor and Quinton Randall, among others. The move to 160lbs, which he made ahead of the Coyle fight, was essential as he says the process of cutting six extra pounds was “starting to kill me.”
Mielnicki says the time he took to develop has been beneficial, and he now expects to surge towards challenging for a world title.
“I know I’m right there, I’m 23 now, I’m developing, I’m getting a lot stronger, a lot wiser and a lot faster. I’ve grown as an athlete and as a man and as a human being. Like you said, it feels like I’ve been pro forever just because I turned pro at 17. I’m a young vet in the game and I think I’m on the cusp of being on the verge of a breakout year for my career,” said Mielnicki.
The Prudential Center is a popular venue for Polish fighters, dating back to the days in which Tomasz Adamek routinely drew over 10,000 fans during the early 2010s. Though a significant portion of the crowd on June 21 will be Polish fans - the co-feature is a matchup between unbeaten Polish heavyweights Damian Knyba and Marcin Siwy - Mielnicki says he isn’t expecting his hometown crowd to turn on him. He is also Polish, on his father’s side, in addition to being of Italian descent.
“I’m Polish as well, so it’s Polish vs. Polish in the main event. A lot of Polish talent on the card. The Italian-Polish-American crowd will definitely be happy on the 21st,” said Mielnicki.