Klitschko outclasses Jennings in a rugged fight

By Boxing News - 04/27/2015 - Comments

http://youtu.be/ECeen4K9Jeg

Michael Montero, New York – A raucous crowd packed Madison Square Garden Saturday night as heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and challenger Bryant Jennings squared off. Some critics have opined that the Ukrainian isn’t a known commodity in the United States, but the folks in New York must not have received the memo because over 17,000 filled the arena on this chilly night in the big apple. Jennings brought a good amount of crowd support from his hometown of Philadelphia, less than 100 miles away, yet it was a pro-Klitschko house overall. The fighters were in the ring, the crowd was ready, now it was time for the opening bell.

Klitschko controlled the distance beautifully early on, keeping Jennings at bay with his left hand. The Philly native used a lot of movement, trying to lure the champion in. When the fighters got close Klitschko wisely tied up, but Jennings wisely got off to the body with his free hand. When Wladimir shot his big right hand Bryant either covered up or ducked under the punch, yet he wasn’t making the champion pay with much return fire.

However in the middle rounds Jennings began making it the awkward, rugged, sloppy fight that he needed in order to win. He was frustrating the champ and starting to land some sneaky punches on the inside, including a massive right hand at the end of the 6th that got the champ’s attention. In between rounds the crowd “ohh’ed and ahh’ed” at the slow motion replay on the big screen, as Klitschko’s face was contorted from the huge shot.

Over the next few rounds Jennings stepped it up and made it a fight, landing numerous hard shots on Klitschko from all angles. The challenger seemed to handle everything the champ hit him with in stride, even talking trash after eating some right hands. In the 10th round the ref docked a point from Wladimir for excessive holding, which delighted the Jennings supporters in the arena. However it could be argued that Bryant was causing some of the clinches by lunging forward with his head down right into the taller man’s chest.

In the final round the challenger came out guns blazing, but it was the champion who finished strong. Klitschko landed several hard shots down the stretch that seemed to put his opponent in survival mode; in fact Jennings hardly threw a punch over the last minute or so of the round, even though he and his team knew he was far behind on the cards.

In all, it was a competitive heavyweight fight with some good back and forth, yet somewhat disappointing in terms of living up to expectations. Although Jennings was competitive, he didn’t throw in combination enough and he let himself be held or pushed around the ring throughout. For Klitschko, he did what he needed to do to win, and showed once again that his chin is underrated by the critics, yet he didn’t exactly set the world on fire. The judges scored it 116-111 twice and 118-109 for the heavyweight champion of the world, who continues to build upon his historic reign. Although Jennings suffered his first defeat as a pro, he fared well and figures to remain a player in the division for years to come.

Klitschko won the battle of the jab, landing 92 of 383 (24%) to only 16 of 91 (18%) for Jennings. However the challenger landed 94 of 285 power punches (33%), mostly hard body shots in the clinch, to only 52 of 162 (32%) for the champion. In the post fight presser, Jennings hardly had a scratch on him. “I’m hoping I gained some respect”, he said, “I know I gained some fans.” He expressed confidence and acceptance in defeat, calling for a rematch. Klitschko arrived late to the presser because he was giving samples to the commission for doping testing. Finally, around 1:30am, Wladimir arrived and addressed the media. When asked about a rematch he made things very clear. “I don’t think there’s a chance for rematch because this fight was really not competitive enough” he said. “There was no drama; I don’t think rematch will be happening.”

In the co-feature and opener to the HBO Boxing broadcast, Brooklyn native Sadam Ali (21-0, 13KO) went up against Francisco Santana (22-3-1, 11KO) in a 10-round welterweight contest. Santana came out stalking in the early going while Ali boxed, setting traps for his opponent and catching him with hard uppercuts on the way in. By the middle rounds Santana’s face was marked up and it looked like his nose was giving him problems, as he rubbed it often. But the Santa Barbara, California native hung tough and landed plenty of leather of his own, marking up Ali’s face even worse than his. Both men grinded it out down the stretch, but Ali did the better, more consistent work. The judges scored it 97-93 twice, with a third score of 100-90, for Ali. The 100-90 score was atrocious and that judge needs to go to “boxing 101” class if they felt this was a white wash. However, the right man won and Ali continues to march forward.

Questions, comments, hate mail? You know what to do: @MonteroOnBoxing (Twitter/Instagram/Facebook)



Comments are closed.