Former top contender and world title challenger Bryant Jennings was recently signed up by Bob Arum’s Top Rank group, and Arum has big plans for the twice-beaten Philly heavyweight. Speaking with ESPN.com, Arum said the big plan is to get Jennings another shot at a world title, and Arum is eyeing Joseph Parker for Jennings next spring.
But 32 year old Jennings, 19-2(10) must come through his next two scheduled fights first. Jennings, beaten only by Wladimir Klitschko (pts) and by Luis Ortiz (KO by7) will return from a near two-year layoff on the August 19 bill topped by the Terence Crawford-Julius Indongo 140 pound unification clash – Jennings will face little-known Daniel Martz, 15-4-1(12).
Assuming he does as expected and comes through the upcoming fight with no problems, Arum says Jennings will fight in a “more notable fight in November or December.”
“And then, if all goes well in that fight, we will try and make a world title fight for him,” Arum said. “I’ll try to make Joseph Parker against Jennings on ESPN in the United States next spring.”
First up for Parker is his mandatory defence against the unbeaten Hughie Fury, in Manchester UK on Sep 23. No formality that fight. But assuming the reigning WBO champ does retain his belt, and assuming Jennings beats his next two foes, a Parker-Jennings fight would be of definite interest. Jennings proved much in pushing Klitschko hard in what was to be Wladimir’s final ring victory, while although he got stopped by Ortiz, Jennings at least dared to fight the Cuban lefty when plenty of other fighters have avoided him.
It will be interesting to see who Arum matches Jennings with after he’s shaken off some rust in the Martz fight (of course, should Jennings lose on August 19 then all future plans will be ruined). One good fight that immediately springs to mind is one between Jennings and Dillian Whyte. Whyte, who will face journeyman Malcolm Tann on the Crawford-Indongo card, had a run-in with Jennings quite recently and the two exchanged strong words.
As an elimination bout, Jennings of Philadelphia against Whyte of London would make a pretty good one.