There is talk of a match with Wladimir Klitschko; that would be grossly premature and an enormous waste of America?s best heavyweight talent?
Bryan Jennings became just a little bit more interesting last night, moving to 18-0 after dropping the Polish prospect Artur Szpilka to 16-1.
Szpilka is a handful, 6?3 and a solid puncher fighting out of a deep, deep southpaw stance and using an open-arms style, welcoming Jameel McCline, Brian Minto and most recently Mike Mollo into an embrace of no small width allowing him to make angles on a wide variety of shots. Mollo tried to steamroll him and got hit with every punch in the book, from a leading uppercut when he mis-stepped to a winging right hook when he got his approach right. Basically, he was befuddled by a mystifying combination of stiff-jab, fleet-footed movement and southpaw awkwardity (it?s in the urban dictionary?). Szpilka stopped him in five.
So whilst it seemed Jennings would have his hands full, in fact, Jennings took just a single round to solve the Polish southpaw, losing the first and perhaps the fourth round but taking no less than a share in each of the remaining eight rounds.
Tentative at bell, by the end of the second it was he that was applying pressure with quick mobility and Szpilka who has having a long hard look at the fighter in front of him. Feinting his way forwards with a forceless jab he got caught once by the right-hook coming the other way, but only once; after that he forced his man back with superior footwork and a dipping feint that opened up his the body, and when the Pole moved, Jennings was always right there with him, basically showing better in all departments.
There was no summary attack however, and Jennings did leave himself open to a tactical adjustment?it seemed Szpilka might produce one in the fifth as Jennings, more cautiously, reproduced that feinting jab. Szpilka straightened up and threw his own jab, returning to his crouch when giving ground and looking to land his straight, giving up, now, on baiting the faster Jennings into his sphere of influence instead boxing more traditionally. Jennings was arguably outboxed in this round but again, he adjusted, slowing the action down, minimizing risk, using his speed. In the fifth he was on Szpilka for three minutes to the point where their leading feet began to clash as Jennings hunted and harried his opponent?s body, head and balance. Szpilka had some success when he fought aggressively but he seemed terribly worried about being out-flashed or perhaps even punched out; as it was to transpire, he was instead being worn out, fighting entirely without economy of either movement or punch seemingly the only way he could keep himself in the contest.
After a fifth that could have gone either way, Jennings was keen to make an impression in the sixth and he did so. He had been working at opening up his man to the body throughout and now that work paid dividends?the punch that dropped Szpilka appeared to be a left uppercut below the heart, but in truth Jennings had been landing hard body punches throughout, in the main the straight-right and as the seconds ticked by he had begun to sag, arms by his sides, moving his head but leaving his body vulnerable.
From here, it was all Jennings. He was a little careless in the thirty seconds that remained of the sixth but in the seventh, eighth and ninth he showed absolute control of both himself and his tired, demoralized opponent. Jennings may have missed more than was absolutely necessary but when Szpilka fought back it was with the free-wheeling abandon of the defeated and despite this he judged distance and man extremely well. A certain conservatism overcame him at times but it was a welcome conservatism as Szpilka, although under control, had yet to quit and finished seven on the front foot and landing.
Hurt badly by a straight right in the ninth, and made, repeatedly, to miss, he was all but in by the beginning of the tenth although he continued gamely to jab and one-two in the first minute. Jennings began to close the show with a series of sneak right uppercuts as Szpilka tried to creep away without pretence of defense or speed and at the 1:12 mark he dropped his man with a short right to the jaw, finished him with a series of beautifully selected uppercuts that forced the referee?s hand with: 40 remaining.
I was impressed. We didn?t really learn anything new about Jennings technically or physically but he seemed to outthink an opponent with similar professional experience at literally every turn. The knockout was bought in the old-fashioned way, with a body-attack to sap the opponent?s strength and then by using an understanding of his offense to find the right punch to hurt him?the finish was calm and without appeal to the referee?s sensibilities, constructed of accurate punches rather than volume. Jennings may overachieve as a thinking fighter.
For this reason, it is important he is not rushed. There is talk today of a match with heavyweight King Wladimir Klitschko; that would be grossly premature and an enormous waste of America?s best heavyweight talent. More than any heavyweight prospect I can think of, Jennings needs time to learn this sport; were I to offer advice to his management team that advice would be to leave the top ten alone until 2015.
