Bryant Jennings Beats Ex Champ Sergei Liakhovich; Adamek Gets W, Too

Sergei Liakhovich came in the favorite against Bryant Jennings, with an edge in experience and bulk. He quickly he found out that the undersized Jennings, 219 ½ pounds,was not there to be impressed by his resume. The Belarus born hitter, 231 pounds, looked a tad soft in the middle, and he ate combos nearly from the start. He was nearly kayoed in round nine, and was bloodied and spent, with Jennings winging hard shots at will. The doc told the ref to pull the plug and he did, as the bell sounded to end the ninth. In truth, it was over for him in round one.

A mouse formed on his left eye in the second, and his punches lacked pop, for the most part. In the fifth, he looked close to being sent to the floor. Jennings has a solid left hook, for sure. In the sixth, the ex WBO titlist, who fought once in2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011, tried to work a jab, as his trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad requested. At 35, Liakhovich looked far past his prime, while the 29 year old looked pretty crisp. “You gotta win this four rounds,” cornerman-advisor Tony Cardinale told Sergei before the seventh. Didn't happen; he ate, and looked bone tired. EMM told him he needed to pick it up or he'd pull the plug after the round. His jab, though, was so feeble. He tried to land power rights, but the gas wasn't there. In the ninth, blood flowed freely from Sergei's nose. He ate clean, hard shots. Sergei is now 25-5, while Jennings is 13-0.

Tomasz Adamek (45-2; from Gilowice, Poland) stayed sharp and got some rounds in against flabby Nagy Aguilera (17-7; 226 ½; from Newburgh, NY), as his Polish rooters cheered every launch. He got back on the bike after getting his head handed to him (TKO10) by Vitali Klitschko last fall, and he looked like that drubbing didn’t take too much from him. Adamek looked pretty sharp, as he moved and threw against the flabby Aguilera in round one. He buzzed Nagy in round two, and the 35 year old looked like he has much more in the tank than does Sergei Liakhovich, who preceded him in the ring. Both men landed jabs in the third, though Adamek landed more. Body work slapped Nagy’s gut hard. A left hook hurt Nagy badly, and he did a dipsy do, almost going down at the end of the round. Adamek looked to work and win by backing up most of the time, a concession to his lack of heavy pop.

In the fourth, Nagy looked like he was almost done, he was eating so many combos. The ref asked him if he was OK, he said yes, and winked at him. Then he answered, and at the end of the round, buckled the Pole with a right counter. In the fifth, Adamek banged away at Nagy, who to his credit still came forward. He was cut over his right eye but kept plugging away. In the sixth, Adamek obeyed Roger Bloodworth, who asked for jab and movement. In the seventh, Adamek doubled and tripled the jab, showing good energy for a vet. But he was eating a hard right every so often, a reminder that Nagy came to make life hard for him. The ninth was all Adamek, though. The tenth ended, and we’d go to the cards. Adamek got the nod, 99-91, 100-90, 100-90. Thank the good Lord for competent judges…

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