Wladimir Klitschko will defend his titles in a World Heavyweight Championship against Bryant Jennings on April 25th at Madison Square Garden.
Klitschko currently holds the IBF/WBA/WBO/IBO and Ring Magazine title belts, and this is a “unification fight” in which all five titles are on the line. The Kiev, Ukraine, native has an overall record of 63-3-0, with 54 KOs.
This is Klitschko’s fourth fight at Madison Square Garden and first in seven years, as his last fight here came on February 23, 2008, a win over Sultan Ibragimov. The first two occurred on April 29, 2000, a TKO win over David Bostice, and November 11, 2006, a TKO win over Calvin Brock.
Klitschko’s two fights in 2014 were on April 26th, a TKO win over Alex Leapai in Oberhausen, Germany, and on November 15th, a knockout win over Kubrat Palev in Hamburg, Germany.
Of this upcoming fight in April, Klitschko said at a press conference at The Garde on Wednesday, “I do have great respect for Bryant Jennings and his achievements. He has good movement in the ring and good technique. I know this will be a tough challenge.”
On fighting again at Madison Square Garden, Klitschko said, “I am extremely happy to fight in New York City again. I had my first unification fight there and a lot of great heavyweight matches have taken place at Madison Square Garden. It will definitely be a great fight and I will do everything for it from my side.”
Bernd Boente, CEO of the Klitschko Management Group, said, “For the fourth time Wladimir will be boxing in the World’s Most Famous Arena. It’s always something special to promote at Madison Square Garden, where legends such as Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Lennox Lewis, and Evander Holyfield stood inside the ring. We are looking forward to another exciting fight and a great event.”
Jennings, a Philadelphia native, has a record of 19-0, with ten wins via KO. Jennings’ last fight came at The Garden on July 26, 2014, when he beat Mike Perez in 12 rounds and that set him up as the mandatory challenger for the WBC world title.
Jennings said of the fight, “This is the moment I have been waiting for, now it’s time to bring the belts home.”