By Jim Dower: #12 WBA heavyweight contender Bryant ‘By-By’ Jennings (21-2, 12 KOs) picked up his second win of his comeback in stopping Don Haynesworth (13-2-1, 11 KOs) in the 3rd round last Saturday night on the undercard of Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux fight card at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Jennings hurt Haynesworth with a right hand to the head in round 3. Referee Arthur Mercante Jr. then stepped in and halted the fight.
Jennings now moves on to hopefully bigger and better things. He wants to fight for a world heavyweight title in the near future. Top Rank is in the position to make that happen given their co-promotion of WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker. However, Parker is expected to fight a unification match against heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in 2018.
Jennings won’t get the title shot against Parker if he loses his title. Jennings will have to move up the World Boxing Association’s rankings for him to get a crack against Joshua or Deontay Wilder.
The 33-year-old Jennings’ fight against Haynesworth didn’t make it on the televised portion of the ESPN card. For Jennings to have his fights televised, he’s going to need to start fighting better opposition. That’ll come later for Jennings. Right now he’s just getting the rust out from 2 years of inactivity.
”He was 271 and I was 227¼ for this. I had to get used to moving around, and get used to my distance,”said Jennings to RingTV.com. “It was a right that landed on the chin that stopped him. I have to trust in my abilities and figure out what I have in front of me.”
Jennings is still young enough at 33 to take his time getting in position for a world title shot. That’s the good news. If Jennings was in his late 30s or early 40s, he would have to really push the pace by fighting the best guys he can. Jennings doesn’t have to do that. He can fight lower level contenders like Haynesworth and Daniel Martz and he’ll get a title shot in 2 or 3 years if he keeps winning.
Jennings was out of the ring from 2016 to August of 2017. He had lost 2 fights to Wladimir Klitschko and Luis Ortiz. Those were tough fights for Jennings to take, but he wanted to test himself. He’s going to need to be a little more careful with this comeback, because it’s not worth it for him to take on a guy of Luis’ Ortiz or Jarrell Miller’s level. Those guys are a little too dangerous for a guy like Jennings.