Bryant Jennings (born September 25, 1984) is an American former
professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
. He challenged once for the unified world heavyweight titles in 2015, and the WBA
interim
An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities.
Interim may also refer to:
Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept)
*Provis ...
heavyweight title in the same year. Jennings holds notable wins over former world champion
Siarhei Liakhovich
Siarhei Piatrovich Liakhovich ( be, Сяргей Пятровіч Ляховіч, Siarhiej Piatrovič Lachovič; russian: Серге́й Петро́вич Ляхо́вич, Sergey Petrovich Lyakhovich; also Siarhiej Piatrovič Liachovič or Siar ...
Jennings had an amateur record of 13-4 including a win over future
UFC
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...
heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. He reached the finals of the 2009
National Golden Gloves
The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nationa ...
Jennings made his professional debut on February 26, 2010. He beat Zeferino Albino by
unanimous decision
A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...
over four rounds. He went on the knock out Jon Bolden in three rounds and then rematched Albino on April 30, this time he knocked Albino in the first round. He went on to beat Bernell Stewart and Randy Smith in 2010.
Jennings first fight of 2011 was on the February 26. He beat Theron Johnson by unanimous decision. He next fought David Williams, who he knocked out in two rounds. On 4 June he beat Mike Miller by unanimous decision. On July 23 he rematched Theron Johnson, again beating him by unanimous decision. Jennings fought twice more in 2011, beating Alexis Mejias and Kevin Franklin.
Jennings’ first fight of 2012 was a ten-round bout against Maurice Byarm on January 21 at the
Asylum Arena
2300 Arena is a multipurpose indoor arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania used primarily for professional wrestling, boxing, mixed martial arts, and concert events. Originally known as Viking Hall, the venue has since been named Alhambra Arena, The ...
in
South Philadelphia
South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south and the Schuylkill River to the west.NBC Sports Network
NBCSN was an American sports television channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated to programming prim ...
Fight Night opening card. Jennings won the bout by unanimous decision to claim the Pennsylvania State heavyweight title.
On March 24, 2012, he faced former WBO
heavyweight champion
At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, thou ...
Siarhei Liakhovich
Siarhei Piatrovich Liakhovich ( be, Сяргей Пятровіч Ляховіч, Siarhiej Piatrovič Lachovič; russian: Серге́й Петро́вич Ляхо́вич, Sergey Petrovich Lyakhovich; also Siarhiej Piatrovič Liachovič or Siar ...
. The fight took place at
Aviator Sports Complex
Aviator Sports and Events Center is a sports and events center in Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York City. Operating as a concessionaire of National Park Service, Aviator has refurbished four historic aircraft hangars and surrounding gro ...
,
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York and was televised on NBC Sports.
Jennings controlled the fight with his jab and power punches. He won the fight after Liakhovich retired at the end of round nine. Jennings then faced Steve Collins (25-1) on June 16, 2012, at the
Prudential Center
Prudential Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the central business district of Newark, New Jersey. Opened in 2007, it is the home of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the men's basketball program of Seton Hal ...
,
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.NBC Sports Fight Night event, including
Tomasz Adamek
Tomasz "Tomek" Adamek (; born 1 December 1976) is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2018. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBC light heavyweight title from 2005 to 2007, and the IBF an ...
vs.
Eddie Chambers
Edward Chambers (born March 29, 1982) is an American former professional boxer. He challenged once for a unified world heavyweight title in 2010. He was ranked as the fourth best heavyweight in the world by '' The Ring'' at the conclusion of 20 ...
. He won by unanimous decision after ten rounds to claim the USBA heavyweight title.
Jennings went on to fight two more times in 2012, knocking out Chris Koval in 35 seconds. Then stopping Bowie Tupou in five rounds to retain his USBA heavyweight title.
Jennings fought once in 2013, on June 14, stopping Andrey Fedosov in six rounds after Fedosov did not come out for the seventh.
On January 25, 2014, Jennings fought Polish heavyweight, Artur Szpilka, at the Madison Square Garden. Jennings knocked out Szpilka in the tenth round. Jennings' next fight was against highly ranked contender Mike Perez, on July 26, 2014. He beat Perez by a close fought split decision to earn a title shot as No.1 ranked contender and mandatory challenger, for the WBC title.
Jennings later signed with promoters Gary Shaw and Antonio Leonard after buying out his existing agreement with Russell Peltz.
World title challenge
Jennings vs. Klitschko
Jennings faced heavyweight champion
Wladimir Klitschko
Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in uk, label=Ukrainian is, Володимир Володимирович Кличко, Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Klychko, . ( uk, Володимир Вол ...
WBA (Super)
The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...
,
IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
, WBO, IBO, ''The Ring'', and lineal heavyweight titles. Klitschko won the fight due to his effective use of his jab and hard right cross keeping Jennings at bay, Klitschko won via unanimous decision with two judges scoring it 116–111 and the final judge scoring it 118–109. After the fight, Klitschko admitted that this was one of his hardest fights in years.
Jennings vs. Ortiz
On December 19, 2015, Jennings faced undefeated Cuban heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz, for the WBA
interim
An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities.
Interim may also refer to:
Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept)
*Provis ...
heavyweight title. Jennings lost the fight by
technical knockout
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...
in the seventh round after he was dropped by a left uppercut from Ortiz, who then continued to land heavy shots before the referee stepped in to stop the fight.
Comeback
After not fighting for over a year following the Ortiz loss, Jennings signed with
Top Rank
Top Rank, Inc. is a boxing promotional company founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum, which was incorporated in 1973, and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Since its founding, Top Rank has promoted many world class fighters, including Muh ...
. Jennings returned to the ring on August 19, 2017, against journeyman Daniel Martz on the undercard of Terence Crawford vs. Julius Indongo. He knocked out Martz in the second round. He next fought on December 9, 2017, at the Madison Square Garden, on the undercard of
Vasyl Lomachenko
Vasyl Anatoliyovych Lomachenko ( uk, Василь Анатолійович Ломаченко, ; also spelled Vasiliy; born 17 February 1988) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes f ...
vs.
Guillermo Rigondeaux
Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz (; born 30 September 1980) is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the unified WBA (Super), WBO and '' Ring'' magazine super bantamweight titles between 2013 a ...
. Where he knocked out Don Haynesworth in three rounds. His first fight of 2018 was against Akhror Muralimov on February 16. He knocked out Muralimov in the third round. Jennings’ next fight took place on April 28, 2018, where he beat Joey Dawejko by unanimous decision over ten rounds.
Jennings vs. Dimitrenko
On June 27, 2018, it was announced that Jennings would take on German heavyweight contender Alexander Dimitrenko in a twelve-round main event on August 18, 2018, at the
Ocean Resort Casino
Ocean Casino Resort (formerly Revel Casino Hotel Atlantic City) is a resort, hotel and casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It is the northernmost casino on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, located on of land, adjacent to the Showboat Hotel. It i ...
, Atlantic City, New Jersey. He won by technical knockout in the ninth round. This was a highly criticized stoppage with Dimitrenko even saying he was "still able to fight" and that "we are not children"
Jennings vs. Rivas
In his next fight, Jennings faced Oscar Rivas, ranked #10 at heavyweight by the IBF. Jennings outboxed Rivas thourghout most of the fight, however, Rivas, knowing only a knockout could bring him the win, came out swinging in the last round and managed to TKO Jennings after dropping him twice in a row.
Jennings vs. Joyce
In his following fight, Jennings faced Joe Joyce, who was ranked #14 by the WBC at the time. Jennings was the better man in the first round, but after that Joyce took control and dominated through most of the fight. Many observers scored several Rounds for Jennings who seemed to land cleaner shots in some moments for them. Joyce won the fight on all three judges' scorecards, 118–109, 117-110 and 115–112. According to some observers the Scores did not reflect the tough test brought by Jennings.
Personal life
Jennings is Muslim, and has been a
vegan
Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...