by David P. Greisman

Bryant Jennings’ fight with Mike Perez this past Saturday was a heavyweight elimination bout in which the winner would get to challenge the victor of the upcoming bout between World Boxing Council titleholder Bermane Stiverne and undefeated challenger Deontay Wilder.

Jennings topped Perez by split decision. His promoter, Gary Shaw, says he’s been told by the WBC’s Mauricio Sulaiman that open negotiations for Stiverne-Wilder will begin in August, “and that fight will have to take place by November/December.”

That would have mean Jennings will be “fighting for the world title sometime in the spring of next year or certainly early next year,” Shaw said.

Jennings took to boxing late in life and turned pro about four and a half years ago. He’s approaching his 30th birthday and is now 19-0 with 10 KOs.

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