Bryant Jennings

Jennings made his professional debut on the 26th February, 2010. He beat Zeferino Albino by unanimous decision over 4 rounds. He went on the knock out Jon Bolden in 3 rounds and then rematched Albino on the 30th April, 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 26th February. He beat Theron Johnson by unanimous decision. He next fought David Williams, who he knocked out in two rounds. On the 4th June he beat Mike Miller by unanimous decision. On the 23rd July 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 10 round bout against Maurice Byarm on the 21st January at the Asylum Arena in South Philadelphia on the NBC Sports Network Fight Night opening card. Jennings won the bout by unanimous decision to claim the Pennsylvania State heavyweight title.[2]

On the 24th March 2012, he faced former WBO heavyweight champion Siarhei Liakhovich. The fight took place at Aviator Sports Complex, Brooklyn, New York and was televised on NBC Sports.[3] Jennings controlled the fight with his jab and power punches. He won the fight after Liakhovich retired at the end of round nine.[4] Jennings then faced Steve Collins (25-1) on June 16, 2012 at the Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey. The fight was co-main event as part of NBC Sports Fight Night event, including Tomasz Adamek vs. Eddie Chambers. He won by unanimous decision after 10 rounds to claim the USBA heavyweight title.[5] Jennings went on to fight two more times in 2012, knocking out Chris Koval in 35 seconds. Then stopping Bowie Tupou in 5 rounds to retain his USBA heavyweight title.[6]

Jennings fought once in 2013, on the 14th June, stopping Andrey Fedosov in 6 rounds after Fedosov did not come out for the seventh.

On the 25th January 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 the 26th July 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.

Jennings faced heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko on April 25, 2015 in Madison Square Garden for the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, The Ring & Lineal Heavyweight titles.[7] 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.[8] After the fight, Klitschko admitted that this was one of his hardest fights in years.

On the 19th December 2015, Jennings faced undefeated Cuban heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz, for the WBA interim world heavyweight title. Jennings lost the fight by TKO in the 7th 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.[9]

After not fighting for over a year after the Ortiz loss, Jennings signed with Top Rank.[10] Jennings returned to the ring on the 19th August 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 the 9th December 2017, at the Madison Square Garden, on the undercard of Vasyl Lomachenko vs Guillermo Rigondeaux. Where he knocked out Don Haynesworth in three rounds. His first fight of 2018 was against Akhror Muralimov on the 16th February. He knocked out Muralimov in the third round. Jennings’ next fight took place on the 28th April 2018, where he beat Joey Dawejko by unanimous decision over 10 rounds.

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, Atlantic City, New Jersey. He won by TKO in the ninth round.