04-27-2015, 03:49 PM
press conference
By John DiSanto – PhillyBoxingHistory.com
After heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and challenger Bryant Jennings battled it out at Madison Square Garden before a live crowd of 17,056 and a national television audience watching on HBO, both fighters appeared separately at the post-fight press conference.
Jennings, 19-1, 10 KOs, appeared first and was clearly not discouraged by his first defeat as a professional boxer.
“This fight does not penetrate my confidence or anything negative towards my career,” Jennings said. “Some people may have expected me to be highly upset or down. I ain’t down. I ain’t upset. This is the sport. And for those that don’t understand, when you get in those four squares, it is what it is. Tonight I fought all 12 rounds. I expected to do well, which I did. But not everybody expected me to do well. So I’m hoping I gained some respect, and I know I gained some fans. I’m not bitter. I’m not upset. I’m not mad, but I really think that I came out with the fight. And you already know what I’m calling for – let’s do this thing again. Let’s do number two.”
“I seen him huffing and puffing, I seen him doing all that,” Jennings said. “I brought it to him every single round, and whatever that Steel Hammer was, it didn’t penetrate this unexperienced, too small, bad foot work… I done heard it all. Man, please. I’m happy. I hope everybody in here is happy. If you’re Klitschko fans, be happy. If you’re my fans, be happy. Because I’m not mad. I still consider myself the best heavyweight in the world. I just did my thing.”
“This is still like a dream to me, because it’s like I never even imagined I’d be accomplishing these things,” Jennings said. “It did take me about three rounds to get in there and start moving. But at the same time, always have to be safe, always have to be careful, and attack at the same time. According to what I’ve seen Klitschko do in the past, that jab didn’t set anything up. That wasn’t a dominant Klitschko jab. That was something else. The jab was not effective. So please, don’t say that. This still wasn’t even my toughest fight. I swear to God, it wasn’t my toughest fight. What was? It was my 11th fight, when I fought on five days’ notice. We got the fight on Tuesday and the fight was on Saturday. It was against Maurice Byarm. I had to push myself to the limit. I was dead tired.”
“My rise to the top is still on, Jennings said. “It’s still on and it don’t matter who it is. We’re not wasting no time. We’re going after the best. That’s what we do, and that’s what I’ve been doing my whole career. My whole short career. I think I went out there and did what I was supposed to do. And it’s magnified because my doing it was unexpected. So even in a loss, they should not praise me but they should be showing respect.”
Wladimir Klitschko, 64-3, 53 KOs, came into the press room about one hour after Jennings had left.
“Jennings was challenging,” Klitschko said. “He was trying in his own way. And I need to give respect for that. I did expect a tough challenge. Honestly, Bryant Jennings was really mobile and it was really tough to hit him. I couldn’t find the key and fight the right distance to land the punches I want to land. The punches I threw unfortunately hit his arms and his defense. I was expecting to get a win and was confident that I was going to defend my title, but unfortunately I didn’t defend it in an impressive way as I usually do it.”
“It was really tough to get him to fight,” Klitschko said of Jennings. “It is said, a tango belongs two. And the styles make the fight. I’ve been in this business for a very long time. This was my 67th fight. There were some fights that were more exciting. There were other fights that were less exciting. Probably this one belongs to ones that were NOT as exciting. But as it is said, a win is a win. The Klitschko story continues. And we will do it a way hopefully with improvement in my performance and hopefully the next fight will have a more exciting result.”
“I think it was a great weekend for the fans from Europe, Ukraine, Germany and England,” Klitschko said. “They travelled to New York and spent great time with the great weather and got to Madison Square Garden for a Klitschko fight. So I think it’s a great weekend. As they say, the win is the win. I hope they will travel back home satisfied.”
“Obviously I’m looking forward to coming back to fight again here in the States,” Klitschko said. “I need an opponent that is also comes from the States. This was my free title defense against Bryant Jennings, and now I have to go back to the obligated title defenses. I don’t know who is exactly in line, but the way it looks, Tyson Fury is going to be my next challenger. I think this fight needs to happen in Europe. It’s a good European fight. The champion of the world travels and fights in different places. So fighting Fury in Germany or fighting in Great Britain, that’s something that we need to figure out.”
“It’s true I never held the WBC title and a unification fight against Deontay Wilder would be fantastic,” Klitschko said. “It’s not going to happen next. I think Deontay need to defend his title first time, and probably such fight can happen at the beginning of next year.”
This was Klitschko’s 18th consecutive title defense, seven defenses shy of Joe Louis’ record of 25 straight.
“I’m not counting,” Klitschko said. “Joe Louis is an icon and it is not for me to compare. Plus that is seven more defenses (to reach his record). A lot can happen in seven defenses. If we make it to 24, let’s talk about it then.”
By John DiSanto – PhillyBoxingHistory.com
After heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and challenger Bryant Jennings battled it out at Madison Square Garden before a live crowd of 17,056 and a national television audience watching on HBO, both fighters appeared separately at the post-fight press conference.
Jennings, 19-1, 10 KOs, appeared first and was clearly not discouraged by his first defeat as a professional boxer.
“This fight does not penetrate my confidence or anything negative towards my career,” Jennings said. “Some people may have expected me to be highly upset or down. I ain’t down. I ain’t upset. This is the sport. And for those that don’t understand, when you get in those four squares, it is what it is. Tonight I fought all 12 rounds. I expected to do well, which I did. But not everybody expected me to do well. So I’m hoping I gained some respect, and I know I gained some fans. I’m not bitter. I’m not upset. I’m not mad, but I really think that I came out with the fight. And you already know what I’m calling for – let’s do this thing again. Let’s do number two.”
“I seen him huffing and puffing, I seen him doing all that,” Jennings said. “I brought it to him every single round, and whatever that Steel Hammer was, it didn’t penetrate this unexperienced, too small, bad foot work… I done heard it all. Man, please. I’m happy. I hope everybody in here is happy. If you’re Klitschko fans, be happy. If you’re my fans, be happy. Because I’m not mad. I still consider myself the best heavyweight in the world. I just did my thing.”
“This is still like a dream to me, because it’s like I never even imagined I’d be accomplishing these things,” Jennings said. “It did take me about three rounds to get in there and start moving. But at the same time, always have to be safe, always have to be careful, and attack at the same time. According to what I’ve seen Klitschko do in the past, that jab didn’t set anything up. That wasn’t a dominant Klitschko jab. That was something else. The jab was not effective. So please, don’t say that. This still wasn’t even my toughest fight. I swear to God, it wasn’t my toughest fight. What was? It was my 11th fight, when I fought on five days’ notice. We got the fight on Tuesday and the fight was on Saturday. It was against Maurice Byarm. I had to push myself to the limit. I was dead tired.”
“My rise to the top is still on, Jennings said. “It’s still on and it don’t matter who it is. We’re not wasting no time. We’re going after the best. That’s what we do, and that’s what I’ve been doing my whole career. My whole short career. I think I went out there and did what I was supposed to do. And it’s magnified because my doing it was unexpected. So even in a loss, they should not praise me but they should be showing respect.”
Wladimir Klitschko, 64-3, 53 KOs, came into the press room about one hour after Jennings had left.
“Jennings was challenging,” Klitschko said. “He was trying in his own way. And I need to give respect for that. I did expect a tough challenge. Honestly, Bryant Jennings was really mobile and it was really tough to hit him. I couldn’t find the key and fight the right distance to land the punches I want to land. The punches I threw unfortunately hit his arms and his defense. I was expecting to get a win and was confident that I was going to defend my title, but unfortunately I didn’t defend it in an impressive way as I usually do it.”
“It was really tough to get him to fight,” Klitschko said of Jennings. “It is said, a tango belongs two. And the styles make the fight. I’ve been in this business for a very long time. This was my 67th fight. There were some fights that were more exciting. There were other fights that were less exciting. Probably this one belongs to ones that were NOT as exciting. But as it is said, a win is a win. The Klitschko story continues. And we will do it a way hopefully with improvement in my performance and hopefully the next fight will have a more exciting result.”
“I think it was a great weekend for the fans from Europe, Ukraine, Germany and England,” Klitschko said. “They travelled to New York and spent great time with the great weather and got to Madison Square Garden for a Klitschko fight. So I think it’s a great weekend. As they say, the win is the win. I hope they will travel back home satisfied.”
“Obviously I’m looking forward to coming back to fight again here in the States,” Klitschko said. “I need an opponent that is also comes from the States. This was my free title defense against Bryant Jennings, and now I have to go back to the obligated title defenses. I don’t know who is exactly in line, but the way it looks, Tyson Fury is going to be my next challenger. I think this fight needs to happen in Europe. It’s a good European fight. The champion of the world travels and fights in different places. So fighting Fury in Germany or fighting in Great Britain, that’s something that we need to figure out.”
“It’s true I never held the WBC title and a unification fight against Deontay Wilder would be fantastic,” Klitschko said. “It’s not going to happen next. I think Deontay need to defend his title first time, and probably such fight can happen at the beginning of next year.”
This was Klitschko’s 18th consecutive title defense, seven defenses shy of Joe Louis’ record of 25 straight.
“I’m not counting,” Klitschko said. “Joe Louis is an icon and it is not for me to compare. Plus that is seven more defenses (to reach his record). A lot can happen in seven defenses. If we make it to 24, let’s talk about it then.”