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� ...

vs. Bryant Jennings, billed as The Champion Returns, was a heavyweight fight for the

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, and ''The Ring'' heavyweight titles. The fight took place on April 25, 2015 at Madison Square Garden in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. This was the first time Klitschko had fought in the United States since 2008 and first time the lineal world heavyweight title was fought for in the United States since Lennox Lewis

defeated Defeated may refer to: * "Defeated" (Breaking Benjamin song) * "Defeated" (Anastacia song) *"Defeated", a song by Snoop Dogg from the album ''Bible of Love'' *Defeated, Tennessee, an unincorporated community *''The Defeated ''The Defeated'', al ...

Vitali Klitschko Vitali Volodymyrovych Klitschko (; uk, Віта́лій Володи́мирович Кличко́ ; born 19 July 1971) is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer who serves as mayor of Kyiv His last fight in the United States was a

title unification In professional boxing, the undisputed champion of a weight class is the boxer who holds world titles from all of the major sanctioning organisations simultaneously. There are currently four major sanctioning bodies: WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO. Ther ...

against

Sultan Ibragimov Sultan-Ahmed Magomedsalihovich Ibragimov (russian: Султан-Ахмед Магомедсалихович Ибрагимов, av, Султан-АхӀмад МухӀаммадсалихӀазул вас Ибрагьимов; born 8 March 1975 ...

. This was also Klitschko's last professional win. The fight aired on HBO.

Build-up

On January 20, 2015

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

reported that the potential Klitschko vs. Jennings was confirmed and to take place on April 25, 2015. Negotiations initially started in November 2014. Klitschko's manager, Bernd Boente finally announced the fight and said all contracts had been signed. Being Jennings first world title fight since turning professional in 2010, he spoke of his excitement, ''"I have all of the attributes naturally to be a champion that you can't teach – heart and will. I'm psyched up. This is the level where I'm at. This is exactly what I planned to do. Whatever competition you are in, your goal should be to reach the top. This is the top, but now it's about taking it to higher heights and winning."'' It was reported that Jennings was Deontay Wilder's mandatory challenger for the WBC title, but he gave up the opportunity to fight Klitschko instead. Klitschko also spoke about the fight, ''"I do have great respect for Bryant Jennings and his achievements. He has good movement in the ring and good technique. I know this will be a tough challenge. I am extremely happy to fight in New York again. I had my first unification fight here and a lot of great heavyweight matches have taken place at Madison Square Garden. It will definitely be a great fight night and I will do everything for it from my side."'' The Barclays Center in Brooklyn was originally chosen to stage the fight, but no reason was given for the change of venue. It would be the fourth time Wladimir would fight at the Garden.

Fight details

Klitschko defeated Jennings by effective use of his jab and nullifying Jennings' offensive game on the inside, especially by holding Jennings, which resulted in the referee deducting a point in the 10th round for excessive holding, although Klitschko did end up winning via unanimous decision with scores of (116–111, 116–111, and 118–109) for his 18th successful title defense. According to Compubox Stats, Klitschko landed 144 of his 545 punches thrown (26%) whilst Jennings landed 110 of 376 (29 percent).

Aftermath

With this win, Klitschko defeated 23rd opponent for the world heavyweight championship, beating a record held by Joe Louis for 67 years. Klitschko also broke Muhammad Ali's record of the most wins in unified championship bouts in boxing history, gaining his 15th win. Klitschko reportedly earned $12.5 million for the fight. Klitschko would later

face The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may aff ...

Tyson Fury Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the WBC title since defeating Deontay Wilder in 2020, and '' The Ring'' magazine title from 2020 to August 202 ...

and would suffer a shock decision loss. A planned rematch would fall through, and Wladimir would end up facing Anthony Joshua, losing by an 11th-round TKO. Klitschko retired after that fight meaning that the Jennings fight would be the final victory in his long career.

Broadcasting

Viewership

According to Nielsen Media Research, the fight averaged 1.637 million viewers, peaking at 1.742 million viewers. The whole card averaged 1.3 million. The undercard fight between Ali and Santana averaged 1 million viewers.

Fight card

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klitschko, Jennings 2015 in boxing 2015 in sports in New York City 2010s in Manhattan April 2015 sports events in the United States World Boxing Association heavyweight championship matches International Boxing Federation heavyweight championship matches World Boxing Organization heavyweight championship matches International Boxing Organization heavyweight championship matches Boxing on HBO Boxing matches at Madison Square Garden

Jennings Jennings is a surname of early medieval English origin (also the Anglicised version of the Irish surnames Mac Sheóinín or MacJonin). Notable people with the surname include: *Jennings (Swedish noble family) A–G *Adam Jennings (born 1982), A ...