Tyson Fury and Bryant Jennings Win Heavyweight Bouts

 
By Tom Donelson (BWAA)
Author, Member of Boxing Writers Association of America
 
Last weekend, Tyson Fury won his match versus Francesco Pianeta but this was hardly a fight and more of a dance.  Fury actually looked fluid as he jabbed and then occasionally landed a power shot.  His jab objective was to define the real estate against Pianeta as his longer reach kept Pianeta off him.  Pianeta only threw 228 punches whereas Fury threw 394 jabs, most of which missed their target.  64% of Fury punches were jabs and while he nailed 44% of power shots, he never hurt Pianeta. 
 
Fury has been out of boxing due to depression for nearly three years since he upset Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.  He fought two fights in his combat with this first one coming against Sefer Seferi who lasted four rounds before his corner ended it.  Against Pianeta, Fury looked relaxed but he was not against an elite talented but a heavyweight who was beyond his prime as Seferi.
 

Deontay Wilder will be Fury next opponent and Wilder is one of the top heavyweights with knock out power.  Fury is an awkward fighter and his size and heights adds to the awkward style and against Pianeta, he looked like a more traditional fighter flicking out his jab but he showed little efficacy with his jab.  His power shots did little to hurt Pianeta and he will not have any advantage on the power side of the equation and his jab is not a jack hammer type like Wilder is but more a range finder.  Against Pianeta, it was a range fighter but little else. 

The one thing that Fury is that he does have basic boxing skills and at times Wilder makes mistakes like going straight back.  This latter mistake could be costly since at 6’9”, Fury will be the bigger fighter not only height but he is the heavier fighter.  Wilder fights between 225 and 230 whereas Fury weighed nearly 260 pounds for Pianeta fight and if he catches Wilder going straight back with his right hand, he could stop Wilder.
 
Wilder advantages is that he has perserve against a big puncher, Luis Ortiz in his last fight and survive nearly being knocked out.  Ortiz southpaw stance gave Wilder trouble and Ortiz is a heavy puncher, which he showed against Wilder.  Wilder ended the fight in the ninth with a knockout, showing that he can do a late round knockout when he had been challenged throughout the fight.  Fury is not the heavy puncher that Ortiz is, so Wilder power is a major factor for Fury.  Fury can take advantage of Wilder mistakes but as Wilder showed against Ortiz, he can erase any mistakes or lead on his part with one punch.  Ortiz won many of the early rounds but the great eraser ended the fight.
 
Elsewhere on the heavyweight front, Bryan Jennings faced Alexander Dimitrenko and this was unusual fight as the smaller Jennings fought on the inside and the bigger Dimitrenko preferred to fight on the outside and box, not use his weight to his advantage to wear out Jennings.
 
Jennings landed the stiffer punches in the early rounds but got nailed by a Dimitrenko right in the fourth.  Jennings gain control of the fight next round but the seventh round proved competitive but a Jennings left hook in the eighth round sent Dimitrenko down for an eight count.  Jennings’ combination sent Dimitrenko down a second time but he survived the round.
 
Jennings landed the perfect upper count and Dimitrenko went down.  While Dimitrenko wanted to continue but this was the third knock down over a period of three minutes of fighting convinced the referee to end the fight.
 
Jennings showed that he is a challenger to the heavyweight title but at the moment, there are others in front of Jennings including Tyson Fury. 
 

One thought on “Tyson Fury and Bryant Jennings Win Heavyweight Bouts

  1. Jennings looked pretty good, but he’s not a big fish in the HW division. Fury should take 1 more tune up.

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