By Jake Donovan
The combination of Wladimir Klitschko returning the U.S. for his first fight in seven years, and the threat of unbeaten American heavyweight Bryant Jennings manning the opposite corner has proven to be a hit with the paying public.
Event handlers have announced that 5,000 tickets have already been sold for the April 25 heavyweight championship at Madison Square Garden in New York City. That total came strictly from presale promotions prior to all tickets going on sale Wednesday afternoon.
“We expect a sold-out arena for this fight,” insisted Tom Loeffler, managing director for K2 Promotions. The company hosts its eighth boxing event at Madison Square Garden, with Klitschko serving as the headliner for three of those shows (plus one more appearance earlier in his career while still with Universum).
Klitschko (63-3, 53KOs) attempts the 11th defense of his World heavyweight championship, and 18th consecutive defense of at least one belt since returning to the title picture in 2006.
The first title defense under his current reign took place at Madison Square Garden, knocking out Calvin Brock in the 7th round of their Nov. ’06 clash. His last stateside appearance also took place at the famed New York City venue, scoring a 12-round decision over Sultan Ibragimov in their Feb. ’08 unification bout.
Both bouts aired on HBO, on which he will appear for the 20th time in his illustrious career.
Jennings (19-0, 10KOs) fights for the third straight time on HBO. All three come on Madison Square Garden property, with his network debut airing live from The Theatre, stopping Artur Szpilka in the 10th round of their Jan. ’14 clash of unbeaten heavyweights.
The win was followed by a 12-round victory over Mike Perez in the Garden’s main room last July, coming on the undercard of Gennady Golovkin’s three-round blitzing of Daniel Geale. K2 Promotions also served as the lead promoter for that show, in association with Gary Shaw Productions. The same two promotional companies are the leads for the April 25 show.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
