Tonight at 10:00 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden, HBO will kick off a card featuring the top heavyweight in the world, Wladimir Klitschko (63-3-0, 53 KO) defending his WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO titles against Philadelphia's own Bryant "By-By" Jennings in a bout that can be live streamed online by clicking this link. The undercard bout will feature New York native Sadam "World Kid" Ali facing Francisco Santana.
Klitschko, nicknamed "Dr. Steelhammer" for his 53 knockouts, is a big favorite to retain his belts against Jennings. It will be his first fight in the United States in seven years, and in that time Klitschko, known for his ferocious jab, has opened up offensively and become more crowd-pleasing.
In his most recent bout, a fifth-round knockout of Kubrat Pulev, Klitschko put Pulev down several times before it ended. He has won three of his last four fights by knockout or TKO, and has dropped his opponent at least once in all four bouts.
Ahead of this fight with Jennings, far from a plodder, Klitschko is oozing confidence. "I'm gonna do it in the Klitschko way and my way is domination," Klitschko told ESPN.com. "Complete domination and eventually I will end it as I end most of my fights -- end the fight early. Pretty much be as dominant as it could get."
Jennings is not an overly experienced fighter-he started boxing professionally in 2009--but he is an athletic one. He's 19-0-0 with 10 knockouts, and despite having the nickname "By-By" Jennings, his greatest trait is his movement and athleticism. He will need to utilize it to get in on Klitschko, and test what might be the champion's only weakness-his chin.
"I have to land that big shot. That's what it is," Jennings said. He believes he is being underestimated going into this fight, but will emerge as the division's top dog. When ESPN asked if he was getting enough respect as an undefeated challenger, Jennings didn't give a politically correct answer.
"No, I'm not. I'm definitely not. I guess you could say I could receive more, but I'm getting a lot of it from my peers and people that actually interact with me. I'm not going to get everybody to follow me and do everything that I want to do, but it's a great amount of people.
"It could be more. But after [Saturday] there's definitely going to be more. But I don't think I'm going to have the space for them. They will be swimming after the boat that already done took off. The bandwagon is full, baby."
Prediction: Klitschko def. Jennings by unanimous decision
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
