Bryant Jennings; the dark horse of the division gets his chance

By Boxing News - 01/22/2015 - Comments

jennings4534By John Stevens: As you all know by now it has just been announced that Wladimir Klitschko will defend his titles against Philadelphia’s Bryant Jennings on April 25th

Some of the more ill-informed and ill-educated out there will doubtless be groaning about ‘another mismatch’ or ‘another easy fight for Klitschko’ – I would like to say to all those people; I think you better think again.

With all the media frenzy over golden boy Deontay Wilder these past few years, (and even more so in the wake of his WBC title victory the other night) another American heavyweight has been doing his work out there quietly and without fuss, racking up a very impressive resume against top quality opposition. Bryant Jennings is far, far more than just another opponent for Wladimir Klitschko – and there is no one more deserving of this opportunity.

Wladimir Klitschko is such a great, great champion that it’s very hard to go against him and predict with any confidence that he may well be beaten. However, out of all the heavyweights in the world right now, including Deontay Wilder, I fancy Bryant Jennings chances more than any other. In my opinion Wilder, in spite of his fine performance against Stiverne, has not got enough to topple Wladimir – for the simple reason that everything he does in the ring, Wlad does too; but better. Jennings however, is a different proposition, as he brings things to the table that Wlad definitely cannot do and thus, if styles make fights, he is going to pose some serious problems.

So let’s have a look at this guy right and assess what we’ve got and just what it is he brings to the table in this world championship fight

Firstly – this is a big, athletic fighter we’re talking about here. Not a 6’7 Klitschko or Wilder, but at 6’3 and hovering around 225 lb he’s not exactly what you would call small! He is extremely well-conditioned and athletic. He carries his size very well indeed and moves around the ring like a middleweight – indeed there is no man in the division slicker or smoother in his movements, both in a lateral sense as he negotiates the ring, and also in his head and body positioning. He possesses a very acute sense of timing and punches from all kinds of odd angles. He reminds me somewhat of a cross between Michael Spinks and Chris Byrd in this department and it looks like an incredibly frustrating style to come to grips with if you happen to be up against him

He also possesses a deadly clout which he fires off with extreme accuracy and at times using very smart combinations. He is a slippery and elusive fighter but is just as much an offensive fighter as he is a counter puncher and this makes him very unpredictable and explosive at times – with a very solid chin to boot. To those of you who doubt his boxing skill and punching power I suggest you go to you tube and have a look at his last 4 fights, which were, in descending order;

BOWIE TUPOU

Tupou is not a world beater by any stretch of the imagination but is extremely rugged and can bang a bit himself. Tupou caught Jennings with a solid right that put him down for a couple of seconds but Bryant got up to punish him severely, finally knocking him out with a frightening uppercut in the 5th

ANDREY FEDOSOV

This fight only lasted till the 6th because of a cut, but what a slug-fest it was! Fedosov himself is a very serious prospect, as evidenced by his recent 2 round destruction of the durable Maurice Harris. A real give and take fight this was, with Jennings landing some fantastic combinations, including one which nearly had the guy out of there in the 2nd

ARTUR SZPLIKA

Another hot prospect whom you will be hearing a lot more of, Szpilka was fighting a great fight here but eventually was caught and taken out with a wicked left hook.

MIKE PEREZ

Definitely Jennings toughest fight yet; Perez, another very talented contender, gave him a torrid time in a real clash-of-styles fight where both fighters sort of cancelled each other out. Jennings didn’t look as comfortable in this fight as he had in previous ones but that was because of the aforementioned styles-clash, not to mention the class of Perez himself.

These four fights then, 3 of them against top contenders who will for sure all be in the mix in upcoming months, really proved what Jennings can do and the quality of opposition he’s taken on has been very, very high (a victory over Sergei Liakovich is also on his resume) All of the great fights mentioned can be found on you tube and I recommend you check them out

So….can Jennings really be the one who finally topples Klitschko? Well……Wlad doesn’t appear to believe it as he’s already talking about fighting Shannon Briggs for the title later on in the year. I believe however that he is under-estimating what he’s got coming at him in this guy, and that could prove to be very costly. Jennings will definitely be bringing a style to the fight which Wladimir is not used to seeing and if he doesn’t get to grips with it then who knows? Like I said earlier, I do believe that if Wladimir is to fall before he retires, then Bryant Jennings is the only man out there right now who is capable of doing it. Careful Wlad………



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