Bryant Jennings vs. Óscar Andrés Rivas & Ash-Shakur Nafi Stevenson vs. Jessie Cris Rosales RBR

I guess I missed that in the vid.

 

A bit Premature. Jennings was so close to the W.

 

No, he wasn't. He was behind on two of the three scorecards after 11 rounds. He was so close to lose a split decision.

 

He was getting blasted. He'd have been seriously hurt had the ref let him continue.

 

Should've been a 10 rounder.

 

What do you want to say?

Jennings was behind on 2/3 scorecards after 11 rounds.

Do you think he would have been up if it would have been a 10 rounder? No.

Rivas won fair and square.

 

It was a tricky fight to score. Jennings's body language was more confident from about the sixth round onwards, but he wasn't really landing much on Rivas, just a couple of sneaky rights and lefts every so often, and a whole load of pitter pat stuff that Rivas caught on the gloves. Rivas wasn't landing much either, but his shots had a lot more weight on them, and his body attack was more sustained throughout the fight. I could see why two of the judges had Rivas ahead, though personally I had Jennings slightly in front. Jennings simply wasn't doing enough to win the rounds clear, or justify the level of coasting he seemed to settle into entering the final stretch.

 

It wasn't the opponent but the manner Ortiz beat him that had everyone excited. Even now that doesn't really change things.

Ortiz needs a thicker resume, but his skills and punching power shouldn't be in doubt.

 

Wasn't it for title? How could it have been ten rounds then?

 

No, only Ortiz's stock really plummeted, as Jennings is pretty much his only good win. Wlad has so many good wins on his resume, that one of them falling off isn't going to affect his standing much.

 

Yes, I think Rivas is a very limited fighter who'll get badly outclassed at some point. His stamina looks very suspect, and he doesn't seem to possess the boxing iq to really make his style work for him against taller fighters who can keep him on the outside. His power will always give him a chance to bail himself out, but there's only so many times you can claw things back from the brink, and fighters will be more on the lookout for last rounds flurries in future.

Some decent action fights for him in the future though. I'd love to see him go up against Parker, Hunter or Whyte, even Wilder at some point. Usyk or Gassiev would be good spectacles as well.