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Once upon a time, the old adage was that if there was a good heavyweight fight to make, you simply make it. Such occasions are few and far between these days, but HBO has one on tap for this evening as unbeaten prospects Bryant Jennings and Artur Szpilka square off in a scheduled 10-round affair.
The bout serves as the televised chief support to the 130 lb. title fight between unbeaten Mikey Garcia and top contender Juan Carlos Burgos. Both fights air live on HBO from Madison Square Garden Theatre in New York City.
Jennings (17-0, 9KO) was a prospect on the rise thanks to a breakout 2012 campaign, but saw his career come to a grinding halt over the last 12 months. The Philly heavyweight failed to see eye-to-eye with co-promoters Main Events and Peltz Boxing, only fighting once on the year before getting out of his contract and resurfacing under Gary Shaw’s promotional banner.
Tonight’s bout marks his first piece of ring action since last June.
Szpilka (16-0, 12KO) was far more active in 2013, chief among his year a pair of thrilling come-from-behind knockouts over Mike Mollo. However, the Polish heavyweight nearly didn’t make it to fight night, as he was turned around by Homeland Security when arriving at the airport in Chicago, attempting to travel from Poland to New York.
The issue was resolved, but not before Szpilka wound up having to travel to and from Poland twice in less than a week before finally making it to New York City in time for fight week.
Will both heavyweights be able to bring their best stuff, or will pending ring rust or jet lag play a factor in tonight’s clash? Given all of the intangibles, who will manage to rise to the occasion?
Read on to see how the staff at Boxingscene.com believes the heavyweight action will go down.
[Click Here To Read More]
The bout serves as the televised chief support to the 130 lb. title fight between unbeaten Mikey Garcia and top contender Juan Carlos Burgos. Both fights air live on HBO from Madison Square Garden Theatre in New York City.
Jennings (17-0, 9KO) was a prospect on the rise thanks to a breakout 2012 campaign, but saw his career come to a grinding halt over the last 12 months. The Philly heavyweight failed to see eye-to-eye with co-promoters Main Events and Peltz Boxing, only fighting once on the year before getting out of his contract and resurfacing under Gary Shaw’s promotional banner.
Tonight’s bout marks his first piece of ring action since last June.
Szpilka (16-0, 12KO) was far more active in 2013, chief among his year a pair of thrilling come-from-behind knockouts over Mike Mollo. However, the Polish heavyweight nearly didn’t make it to fight night, as he was turned around by Homeland Security when arriving at the airport in Chicago, attempting to travel from Poland to New York.
The issue was resolved, but not before Szpilka wound up having to travel to and from Poland twice in less than a week before finally making it to New York City in time for fight week.
Will both heavyweights be able to bring their best stuff, or will pending ring rust or jet lag play a factor in tonight’s clash? Given all of the intangibles, who will manage to rise to the occasion?
Read on to see how the staff at Boxingscene.com believes the heavyweight action will go down.
[Click Here To Read More]
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