TOPCLASS PREVIEW OF JENNINGS VS. RIVAS

On January 18th 2019 at Turning Stone Casino in New York, fans will be treated to a stacked night of boxing. Headlining this Espn card promoted by Top Rank is Bryant Jennings and Oscar Rivas two skilful heavyweights both looking for title shots.

Jennings comes into this matchup reeling off 5 straight victories, after his loss to a prime version of Luis Ortiz the feared Cuban heavyweight. Jennings has improved every fight showing constant body punching with better use of his jab and punching accuracy.

Oscar Rivas, the now based Montreal heavyweight has shown a more spiteful side of his style mixed with aggression, power punching and good hand speed. This fight with Bryant Jennings will be a major step up in competition and will show boxing fans the real level of Rivas compared to other top heavyweights.

I believe Jennings has the superior boxing skills, along with the experience advantage and believe his recent sparring sessions with British heavyweight Derek Chisora will have him in a perfect position to come away with a victory in this fight.

In the co-main event the super skilled Shakur Stevenson Olympic silver medalist will be in action.

I regard Stevenson as one of the very best prospects in boxing, his ability to mix up combinations along with finding his range is outstanding. His boxing IQ is similar to that of a high-level veteran champion already.

Other notables on the card include:

Robson Conceicao the gold medalist from the 2016 Olympic games who has shown in the pro ranks his blurring hand speed, combinations and power. He is becoming a future star for Brazilian boxing fans

Carlos Adames of the Dominican Republic is constantly in exciting fights and has recently moved up to 154 pounds. Currently, I believe he is one of the best body punching prospects in boxing.

Fazliddin Gaibnazarov representing Uzbekistan is yet another Olympic gold medalist on this card. Fighting out of the southpaw stance Gaibnazarov, has excellent movement and footwork along with counter punching. In this writers opinion, Gaibnazarov is severely underrated by many boxing media members believing him to be an elite level talent, with great fundamentals.

By Lee Thornton