Let's talk about Bryant Jennings

[El Kabong]

The new top American flavor of the month in the heavyweight division is now Bryant 'By-By' Jennings (although his 'By-By' should be spelled 'Bye-Bye' but that's beside the point) he had a nice win over Bowie Tupou who did test Bryant's chin a bit. Bryant passed the chin test and scored a lovely KO. I would like to know your thoughts on Bryant's potential, his pros & cons, and which styles or fighters you see as good matches or bad matches for him. He's not especially tall or muscular for the division but he has a good reach and some good athletic ability, like a less robotic Frank Bruno.



After a few of you provide your views of the guy I will provide my own. I'm not a fan of his but I will say he has a fighting style that will catch the eye of most fans looking for an "exciting heavyweight".

[TitoFan]

I don't think the Klitschkos need to be quaking in their boots just yet. Jennings looks to be one of the better American HW prospects. I'm not off the Seth Mitchell bandwagon just yet, even if he did get caught by Banks in his last fight. So it's Jennings and Mitchell to me, in that order. Thing about both is they have pretty good fundamentals. Jennings looks to have the better chin, 'cause now I'd have to suspect Mitchell's a little bit. Or maybe he just needs to learn to survive getting tagged.

Banks I'm not completely sold on. He looks smallish to me and would never be a threat to a Klitschko. And Wilder? Well, it's hard to tell. He seems to have attended the Cesar Chavez Jr. School for Picking your First 25 Opponents. No one's yet to see what he can really do. The other guys (Hamer, Hanks) I don't know much about.

[El Kabong]

I'm not suggesting he's on track to even fight much less beat a Klitschko brother (faaaaaar from it) I am saying he's a heavyweight that people won't mind watching. His style is a mix of things, he moves and stays outside well, but he will also be a bit reckless. He showboats & drops his hands, he talks during the fight, he's flashy that way.

The deal is if Jennings fights a boxer he'll be more apt to slug, if he fights a slugger, he'll pick his spots to box and slug. Jennings is just recently finding his power and is hopefully not falling in love with it. He's got a long way to go to get to the top of the division but he's going to have some entertaining fights coming up I am certain.

I think Jennings vs Wilder is too soon right now, Wilder needs more rounds. Jennings vs Hanks is too soon, Hanks needs better opponents. Jennings vs Mitchell is too soon, Seth needs to rebound. Jennings vs Banks is too soon for Jennings. I think Jennings needs rounds, he needs, experience, and he needs to be on TV.

Jennings vs the following in his next fights would be nice:Tor Hamer, Dereck Chisora, Alexander Dimitrenko, Manuel Charr, Albert Sosnowski, but the most interesting matchup is probably vs Malik Scott who had stopped Bowie Tupou before Jennings got his shot at him.

Malik Scott has been around for ages and would be a great feather in Jennings' cap if Scott takes the fight.

[TitoFan]

I was looking at it from the Klitschko perspective but, no... there's no American HW right now that's even within shouting distance of a Klitschko match. Jennings is more of a total package than either Wilder, Mitchell, or Banks, IMO. What you said about Hanks (needs better opponents) goes triple for Wilder. 25-0 with 25 KOs looks great on paper. But like I said... he looks to be taking after Chavez Jr with his choice of opponents to start his career. Seth worries me a little, but it's mostly because of what I read regarding his not being passionate about boxing. That's a deal breaker right there. Other than that, he just needs to learn to survive being tagged a little better, 'cause he did a shitty job of it against Banks. Your sequence for Jennings in his next fights would be nice... it has a nice, gradually increasing tone to it. Meanwhile, fans in general are getting antsy about Wilder still fighting bums after 25 professional fights. Gotta wonder what's gonna happen when he fights someone good.

[Hulk]

Like I've said before and you have disagreed with Lyle, Jennings is probably the best American Prospect due to his speed and athletic ability. Also, he is consistent and hungry which is rare for American heavyweights. Jennings and Wilder look like the best right now of the bunch. I liked that combo Jennings landed to put Tupou away, left hook, right uppercut. I still don't think any prospect can be declared "the best American Heavyweight" until they defeat the Elephant Seal Arreola. He is a contender with KO power and a good beard. Jennings and Wilder are still prospects. I'd never heard of Tupou, tho he did look like a more muscular John Ruiz.

[TitoFan]

That combo by Jennings was sweet, wasn't it? Let's see how all these HW's are continued to be brought along. I certainly hope they start to feed Wilder some live bodies though. His last few opponents have been disappointing to say the least.

[El Kabong]

Right now Arreola is the best American heavyweight, he's tried and tested and ready to compete vs the very top.

The next best IMO is Jonathan Banks, he's got more experience than anyone else. he's fought (albeit in a losing effort) vs Tomaz Adamek who beat Arreola as well. He's a smart fighter, he's got decent power, he's got decent handspeed, and he is and always has been a boxer...he didn't come from football or basketball.

After that you have prospects and that what Jennings, Wilder, and Hanks are...they are prospects. they are old enough to start really testing themselves but they haven't yet. Wilder is the youngest of the bunch and with his frame I could see his handlers wanting him to fill out before matching up vs more solid fighters. Joe Hanks I believe is the most polished but we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

[Hulk]

We are all forgetting about Malik Scott

[Rantcatrat]

Right now Arreola is the best American heavyweight, he's tried and tested and ready to compete vs the very top.

The next best IMO is Jonathan Banks, he's got more experience than anyone else. he's fought (albeit in a losing effort) vs Tomaz Adamek who beat Arreola as well. He's a smart fighter, he's got decent power, he's got decent handspeed, and he is and always has been a boxer...he didn't come from football or basketball.

After that you have prospects and that what Jennings, Wilder, and Hanks are...they are prospects. they are old enough to start really testing themselves but they haven't yet. Wilder is the youngest of the bunch and with his frame I could see his handlers wanting him to fill out before matching up vs more solid fighters. Joe Hanks I believe is the most polished but we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

I like Jennings. He trains hard. He gets good work in Philadelphia. Evn without a major promoter, he's fought on NBC a couple of times. I may think higher of Malik Scott than you do, Lyle. I think Scott may be too big of a step to take right now. He just has such a big edge in experience. If there is ever someone who needs to step up his level of competition, its Scott.

Jennings has done the most so far of the prospects mentioned above. The other two prospects that should be included in that group are Tor Hamer and Kelvin Price. I know Kelvin Price beat Hamer by split decision, but Hamer beat Kevin Johnson in the prizefighter series too. If Hamer beats Glazkov on 12/22, which I'm not sure he does, he has by far the best resume of the bunch. Glazkov had an extensive amateur career (beating David Price, losing to Solis and Cammarale). Hamer actually has a decent amateur background too though.

Price faces Wilder this weekend, which should give us a good idea of where they stand.



If Arreola is the measuring stick, I'm not sure any of them pass the mark. Arreola may be better than all of them. Do you think any of them can beat Magomed Abdusalamov?

[El Kabong]

He KO'd Tupou before Jennings did.

[El Kabong]

Bryant Jennings is at the stage of his career where he can choose to stay busy and fight 3-5 bums a year or he can fight 2-3 contenders and get ready for his title shot. I would like for Jennings to keep focusing on his power as he seems to have enough to finish a fair number of fights, it's better than his record shows. Deontay Wilder is in the opposite situation, I'd like to see him box more and get good hard fought rounds in under his belt.

Bryant Jennings vs Dereck Chisora would be great. Chisora is the new Danny Williams, we don't know what is coming to the ring until fight night. He could be fit and ready to fight or fat and ready to lie down but he'll give you rounds and if Jennings could stop or hurt Chisora that would be quite telling. after that a fight vs Seth Mitchell or Malik Scott would be good.

Deontay Wilder needs to fight a guy with expereince that will provide rounds but also be a bit dangerous. I would love to see Wilder fight someone like Oliver McCall just to get the rounds in and then fight Oleg Maskaev because he's a little more dangerous. 42 rounds out of 25 fights is just worthless when it comes to preparing you for a title shot. Hasim Rahman wouldn't be horrible for Wilder to fight, he's a name that people know.

Joe Hanks needs rounds as well I would suggest he fight Guinn and then move on to a more dangerous option maybe Tor Hamer or Mike Perez.

[TitoFan]

Jennings I think if brought along intelligently can be knocking on the door within 3-4 fights, maybe a little more. To me he's the most promising of the bunch. It used to be Mitchell... but again, his mental attitude toward boxing worries me. I like the fact he's an ex-football player, which means he'll more than likely always show up in great physical shape. But he's gotta search within himself if he wants to take the arduous path to HW stardom. "Lack of passion" won't do.

Wilder I'm sort of frustrated about. One more fight against a fat, blubbery bum and I'm gonna start considering him a circus freak. One with a powerful right hand and an ornery attitude... but a circus freak just the same. 25 fights and not a live body in sight is utterly disgraceful... I don't care HOW carefully you're trying to bring along a boxer.

Oliver McCall, even at his ripe old age, would be a HUGELY dangerous fight for Wilder at this point. McCall has nothing to lose and everything to gain, and tends to swing for the fences with every shot. One connect is all it would take for Wilder to lose that "0". But he (Wilder) certainly needs an upgrade in opponent. Someone who will take him past 4 rounds.

I'm thinking some of these prospects need to start facing each other (a la Mitchell-Banks) before too long.

[El Kabong]

Deontay Wilder is only 27 years old...so I can see allowing him to tweak things in fights here and there but I agree eventually you've got to step up and I think Domonick Guinn would be PERFECT for him. Guinn still has a chin, he can punch a bit, he's a bit timid in throwing his punches not for fear of retaliation but he just never seems to pull the trigger. He'll give Wilder 10 rounds which is what Deontay needs.

Also hopefully the sparring with Wlad helped a lot, it should at least show him what a top teir professional looks like.

Seth Mitchell is over for me, he finally fought a BOXER and Jonathan Banks who people have shat on for a long while as being "nothing special" just steamrolled him. It's not about desire, it's not about work ethic, it's about the boxer's mental makeup. In football, you get knocked down everything is cool...next play. In boxing you've got to learn how to cope on the fly and to me Seth just didn't muscle through, Banks made him feel weak and Mitchell wanted a way out

[Rantcatrat]

Tony Grano might be a good match-up for Bryan Jennings next. He's in the top of the WBC rankings, as per @Freedom, he's more experienced than Jennings, and he's from Pennsylvania.

[TitoFan]

Didn't know much about Grano so I looked him up... saw a video of his fight against Williamson.
I think Jennings would make short work of Grano.