Making his first return back to New York City’s Madison Square Garden in seven years Wladimir Klitschko (64-3 54 KOs) gave Philadelphia heavyweight Bryant Jennings (19-1 10 KOs) his first defeat via unanimous decision, in front of 17,000 fans, many of which were waving Ukranian flags and cheered every one of Klitschko’s moves. Two judges scored the bout 116-111 and the third judge scored it 118-109.
There were several tense moments in the bout for Klitschko as he made his 18th consecutive defense of the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO world Heavyweight titles.
Jennings lunged and connected with left hooks and body shots which marked up the left side of the taller Ukranian’s left side. Klitschko was more tentative then we have seen him in recent times as he would stop Jennings’ forward momentum by gabbing and holding. This gave Jennings a chance to land even more bruising shots to the body.
Klitschko shot out his jab to try to keep Jennings at a safe distance but the Philadelphian would come across and swing wildly in an effort to land a meaningful punch. That’s when Klitschko started doubling and tripling up on the jabs. It became clear at that point that the Ukraninan was just too big for Jennings to contend with.
Whenever Jennings would try to establish a sense of rhythm Klitschko would catch him in a clinch until the referee would separate the two men.
Klitschko landed a stiff Jab right on the button in the fifth round. Jennings stepped back, dropped his gloves and asked for more as a way to taunt the Ukranian giant. Klitschko fired off another jab followed by the straight right hand which went right through Jennings guard and landed cleanly much to the delight of the pro-Klitschko fans.
Jennings landed a big right hand in the sixth round that caught Klitschko flush but Jennings was unable to capitalize on it. Klitschko would go on to win that round too by backing Jennings up into the ropes.
In the ninth round Jennings landed another big right hand which threw Klitschko off balance a bit but whenever the challenger attempted to mount a rally, Klitschko would either answer back with a giant right hand or go back to holding and clinching to regain his own footing. Jennings would land his best punch of the fight in this round which opened up a small cut underneath Klitshko’s left eye.
Klistchko resorted to more holding and grabbing in the tenth round which forced referee Michael Griffin to deduct a point from Klitschko. When the action resumed, Klitschko was able to reinforce his jab and ended up taking that round back from Jennings.
In the final round, Jennings came out aggressive knowing he would need a knockout to get the victory. Klistchko was able to capitalize on the openings and land a steady diet of jabs and hard right hands which sealed the victory and brought the crowd to its’ feet in the waning seconds of the fight.
Jennings said after the fight he is very satisfied with his performance and believes he won the fight.
“I know you are not supposed to leave it up to the judges,” Jennings said. “I know gained some fans tonight. I’m not bitter and I’m not mad. It’s a sport and it is what it is.”
Klitschko agreed this wasn’t his most dominating performance but he gave all the credit to Jennings.
“I could have done better,” Klitschko says. “I didn’t have the chance to throw the right hand as often as I wanted to.”
Klitschko hinted at a mandatory defense against Tyson Fury in Europe perhaps in the Fall and then an opportunity to unify the titles against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in 2016. Wilder was in attendance tonight as were former world champions Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield.
In the evening’s co-feature Brooklyn’s Sadam Ali (22-0, 13 KOs) defeated Francisco “Chia” Santana (22-4-1 11 KOs) by unanimous decision to remain undefeated. The judges’ scorecards were 97-93, 97-93 100-90.
The 100-90 scorecard by judge Alan Rubenstein was a questionable score as Santana damaged Ali’s right eye and had some big moments in the fight.
“That judge should never be allowed to judge another fight again,” said promoter Gary Shaw”
After Ali tried to control the action in the first two rounds, Santana came on strong in round three to stun the undefeated prospect. This became a see saw battle that had thrilled the fans.
“I tried to set him up but it was hard,” said Ali after the fight. “He can take a shot. He caught me with some good shots but so did I.”
Ali found himself fighting off the ropes for most of the middle rounds but was out landing and out working the fighter they call “Chia.”
Ali had his best round in the tenth and final round hurting Santana multiple times. Ali used his speed to get off a good combination up top and ended the flurry with a hard body shot to win the round and the fight.
This win should catapult Ali into a title shot by the end of the year according to Ali and his promoter Golden Boy Promotions.
- Vladimir Lik / @VladimirLik
Leave a Reply