(Photo Credit: Alex Menendez – HoganPhotos/Golden Boy Promotions) By Jim Dower: Interim WBA heavyweight champion Luis “The Real King Kong” Ortiz (24-0, 31 KOs) stopped a game #5 WBA former world title challenger Bryant Jennings (19-2, 10 KOs) in the 7th round to stay unbeaten in a fight televised by HBO Championship Boxing at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York.
Ortiz knocked Jennings down with a left uppercut in the 7th. Ortiz punished Jennings with several more shots after he got back to his feet that sent Jennings to the ropes. The referee then halted the fight at 2:41 of the round.
Jennings was in close to Ortiz in the 7th when he was hit first by a hard right uppercut followed by an even bigger left uppercut that knocked him to the canvas. Somehow, Jennings was able to get back to his feet and continue fighting after the knockdown. Ortiz then hit Jennings with a left-right combination and then another left that sent Jennings flying into the ropes. The referee Dick Pakozdi then stepped in and stopped the fight. Jennings was too hurt to defend himself and he would have been knocked down again if the fight had been allowed to continue.
Earlier in the fight, Ortiz had Jennings badly hurt in the 1st round after hitting him with a hard left uppercut that caused Jennings to stagger back to the ropes. Moments later, Ortiz almost dropped Jennings with a crushing left hooks to the head that spun Jennings halfway around along the ropes. If the ropes hadn’t been there it’s like Jennings would have hit the canvas.
Surprisingly, Jennings came back strong in the 2nd round to outwork Ortiz with some nice body and head shots.
Ortiz came back strong in the 3rd round and hurt Jennings with a left uppercut that had him backing up. Later in the round the referee warned Ortiz for shoving off on Jennings. Ortiz had to shove Ortiz because he was constantly trying to smother him on the inside.
Jennings stayed closed to the 6’4″ Ortiz in the 4th round and didn’t give him space to get off his big left hand shots. Jennings landed a lot of punches in the round but they weren’t particularly powerful compared to the big shots that Ortiz had been landing in the first three rounds.
WATCH: @BYJennings goes down hard on a vicious uppercut from Ortiz in Round 7 #TweetReplay #JenningsOrtiz https://t.co/e8kueWgx0H
— HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) December 20, 2015
In the 5th round, Ortiz changed his game up by using movement to circle around the ring and jab from the distance. Ortiz looked like Muhammad Ali the way he was on his toes bouncing around and peppering Jennings with jabs. On several occasions, Ortiz showed his athleticism by jumping in quickly to land big left hand uppercuts while on the move. It was incredible to see a 6’4″, 245lb fighter doing the things that Ortiz was doing in the ring. You don’t see the bigger heavyweights making the kinds of moves that Ortiz was in the 5th. Jennings kept trying to smother Ortiz, but he wasn’t able to get close enough to him to stop him from punching.
There wasn’t a lot of action in the 6th round, as it looked like Ortiz was taking a breather from all the movement he’d done in the 5th. However, Ortiz still landed a couple of really nice left uppercuts that caught Jennings while he was coming forward. The shots were perfectly timed punches.
What was really impressive about tonight’s performance by Ortiz is he fought with the flu. He had the flu all week long, and was coughing after the fight.
“It was me underestimating his pedigree,” Jennings said after the fight. “Fighting with my pressure against his pedigree, I wasn’t on my game and he got the best of me tonight. He started to box some more, and I came with the same approach. I think it was his pedigree overcame what I brought to the table,” Jennings said.
“I didn’t see Deontay Wilder anywhere here,” Ortiz said after the fight. “I told you it’s a new era, and everyone has to take me serious. This is a new era in the heavyweight division.”
When asked who he wants to fight next, Ortiz said “Wilder and [Tyson] Fury. HBO and Golden Boy decide.”
Other boxing results on the card:
Nicholas Walters draw 12 Jason Sosa
D’Mitrius Ballard UD 6 Fabiano Pena
Vyacheslav Shabranskyy MD 10 Yuniesky Gonzalez
Gabriel Rosado UD 10 Joshua Clottey
Yuriorkis Gamboa UD 10 Hylon Williams
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