Championship Boxing: Results

via HBO Boxing

On Saturday Night, April 25th, Wladimir Klitschko again retained the Heavyweight championship by out-muscling and out-pointing a game Bryant Jennings at Madison Square Garden. “By-By” Jennings refused to say bye bye as he fought on the inside and tried to upset Klitschko’s rhythm.

via HBO Boxing

This was a refreshing approach as most of Klitschko’s opponents, after much pre-fight braggadocio, resort to staying outside in his kill zone eating his stiff long range jab and then succumbing to his “Steelhammer” right hand that eventually puts them to sleep.

via HBO Boxo

Jennings was able to punch from outside just enough to swarm on the inside and throw body punches. Unfortunately for Jennings, while this was successful in making for an uglier fights he still fell for Klitchkos secondary tactic which is to impose his size by smothering his opponents inside output under the umbrella of his massive arms.
Bryant Jennings did not get knocked out. As a heavyweight with only 6 years of professional experience he was more successful than most of Klitschko’s opponents, but he did not have enough of an inside game to turn the fight into a winning performance. However, for a virtual unknown to accomplish what he did, on one of the biggest stages, he has catapulted himself into the land of legitimate heavyweights and should have fans looking for his return against another named opponent.

via HBO Boxing

Also on Saturday night Brooklyn New York’s own Sadam “World Kid” Ali (22-0 with 13 KO’s) rose to the occasion by outpointing Francisco “Chia” Santana over the course of a 12 round fight. Ali, trained by Andre Rozier but gaining additional ring wisdom from Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi, utilized his versatility to stave off major pressure from Santana who showed the same relentless forward pressure demonstrated by such fighters as Marcos Maidana, Orlando Salido and Ruslan Provodnikov. It is often said that “styles makes fights” and this was demonstrated in a fight that had much similarity to the battles between boxing impresario Floyd “Money” Mayweather and hard hitting and relentless Marcos “Chino” Maidana. The Mayweather/Maidana fight was on a higher skill level but this fight was similar in many ways.

via HBO Boxing

Ali was forced to move and hit while Santana bullied ahead and took punches in order to land his counters.What is often not discussed in many boxing articles and analyses is the role of the fighter’s “day of fight weight ” and how it affects the match up. Although both fighters weighed in at 146+, under the contractual weight of 147, on fight night Ali weighed 153 while Santana blew up to 167. In essence the fight ended up pitting a Super Welterweight against a Super Middleweight. Boxing fans may recall that Marcos Maidana weighed as much as 165 while Floyd Mayweather weighed in at 152 on fight day. Ladies and gentlemen, when this happens it is much harder to control, KO, or defend the pressure of an antagonist who is essentially in a higher weight class. Imagine Juan Manuel Marquez beating 160lb Middleweight Bernard Hopkins, or 147 Welterweight Zab Judah knocking out 168 Super Middleweight Roy Jones. Just ask the “Filipino Flash” Nonito Donaire who said that Nicholas Walter was too big for him at 130 when he decided to go back down to 122. Something must be done about this, but let me not digress as this discussion is for another article.

Technically based on his skill set Ali fought a perfect fight and adapted to this difficult style matchup by beating Santana to the punch and getting out of harm’s way for the most part. Having the cleaner, sharper and harder punches and showing the ring savvy and boxing skills he is known for, Ali won easily on all the judges’ cards: 100-90 and 97-93 twice. Unfortunately Ali got his share of bumps and bruises trying to circumvent a determined opponent. Santana to his credit tried to cut off the ring and whenever Ali stopped moving, Santana fired combinations from all angles, always taking one to deliver four or five of his own.

With all his versatility, what Ali did not show was his ability to hit while moving. To hit and then move is a much easier art to master than to be able to hit while in motion. This is because unless you are a naturally powerful puncher you still have to know when to “sit down” on your punches to land respect-gaining blows. This skill was so artfully demonstrated by another Ali the, “Greatest” Muhammad Ali who fought arguably the most relentless attacker in boxing history, a pure boxer’s worst nightmare in “Smoking” Joe Frazier.

Compubox had Ali landing 196 of 588 punches while Santana landed 153 of 720 punches, 33 versus 21 percent. Luckily for Ali he has a number of different skill sets to bring to bear depending on his opponent. His adaptability may be his greatest strength, but having Malignaggi “King of Brooklyn” in your corner as if you are the “heir apparent” of Brooklyn Boxing pride does not hurt either.

Written by NewYorFighting.com Boxing contributer Adrian Anthony

Editor: KyleAntonelli