By Luke Furman
On January 25 at The Theater in New York's Madison Square Garden, Artur Szpilka (16-0, 12 KOs) will take part in one of the most important fights of his career, when he faces Bryant Jennings (17-0, 9 KOs) in an HBO televised contest. Szpilka is currently training hard, and during camp he had sparring sessions against veteran contender Kevin Johnson (29-4-1, 14 KOs).
The Polish puncher is going to be looking to start 2014 I a big way, and then he wants nothing but big fights for the remainder of the year.
"My goal for this year is Jennings, then I want [Mike] Perez or [Deontay] Wilder, thena title - [Bermane] Stiverne or [Chris] Arreola. That's what I'm going to be looking for," Szpilka said.
MSG is the site of when Polish heavyweight Andrew Golota made a name for himself in 1996, by unexpectedly beating up Riddick Bowe for several rounds before getting disqualified. Szpika has no interested in being the next Golota. He wants to be his own man.
"I do not want to be any successor to anyone. I want to be Artur Szpilka and give the Poles a lot of excitement and show that I represent Poland with pride. I just want to go out there and do my thing and I'll do anything to knock him out," Szpilka said.