By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated heavyweight hopefuls Artur Szpilka of Poland and Bryant Jennings of America will battle it out at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday, January 25. The 10-round bout will be broadcast across Canada and the U.S. by HBO. Jennings carries a record of 17-0 with him along with nine Kos, while Szpilka will enter the ring with a mark of 16-0 and 12 Kos.
Jennings, who’s considered to be one of the top American heavyweights on the scene at the moment, stopped Andrey Fedosov in the sixth round in his last outing seven months ago. The 24-year-old Szpilka, a southpaw, last fought in August and stopped Mike Mollo in the fifth-round. He also knocked Mollo out in the sixth round last February.
The 29-year-old Jennings fought just once in 2013 as he was changing managers and promoters and he was out of the public eye after building up a sizeable following the year before. He may have some ring rust to work off early in the bout against Szpilka. However, he claims that he kept himself in shape while dealing with his business matters and is in shape and ready to take out his frustrations on his opponent.
Jennings claims that he doesn’t really know a lot about Szpilka, other than he’s a southpaw and stands 6-foot-3. He also realizes that his opponent has pretty good power and has earned stoppages in three of his past four encounters. The American said he doesn’t usually care about scouting his opponents as they’re in the ring to take his head off and vice versa.
Considering that he only took up boxing five years ago as a 24-year-old, Jennings’ career up to now has been quite impressive. The Philadelphia fighter has taken care of everybody he’s met and figures it’s time to step up in class and test his skills against better opponents. He’s hoping to get a title shot in the next year or two, but of course a loss to Szpilka would derail those plans.
Both Jennings and Szpilka have good power and a solid shot right on the button could see either of them hit the deck. Szpilka is a former Polish cruiserweight champion and isn’t really as polished as Jennings is when it comes to boxing skills. He’s got a lot of heart, but can be a bit wild at times. Jennings likes to keep his fists busy in the ring and usually earns his stoppages by wearing his opponents down rather than with one-punch power. He usually sets everything up with that stiff jab of his.
This should be an interesting and entertaining bout. Jennings is used to outworking his opponents and pressing the action. His chin hasn’t really been tested as of yet and Szpilka is planning on giving it a good workout this Saturday. Jennings was decked in 2012 by Bowie Tupou, but got up to stop him in the fifth round. Szpilka hits harder than Tupou, but will find it’s hard to catch Jennings solidly because of his movement.
Prediction
It can be argued that Szpilka is the more experienced boxer here as he’s beaten Owen Beck, Brian Minto and Jameel McCline along with Mollo. Jennings’ biggest win to date came over former heavyweight champion Sergei Liakhovich by early stoppage. Szpilka is younger and has a bit of a reach advantage, but Jennings non-stop activity each round should eventually wear him down. Look for Jennings to take a decision or earn a late stoppage.
