Bryant Jennings Irked That Rug Was Pulled Out From Underneath Him

This is boxing, so there’s a lot of water under all the bridges. But that doesn’t mean that people become immune to the odd shocker of a surprise, and don't get taken aback when things go off the rails…

This week, Bryant Jennings got dosed by some news that whacked him upside the head, hard. The PA heavyweight, now working under the Top Rank umbrella, thought his next fight would be taking place in Atlantic City, against Joseph Parker. He thought so, lots of other folks thought so, to the point that some news persons ran with the news.

Agreements are in place to have Jennings fight Parker, in a battle of a re-ascending vet against a recently toppled titlist, fans were told.

Until they learned otherwise…

A day after news went out about Jennings vs Parker, Eddie Hearn and company threw a curveball, which actually seemed like more of a sneaky spitball to some folks who didn’t see it coming. Joseph Parker, Hearn announced, would be fighting Dillian Whyte on July 28th, in England. It’ll be Whyte coming off a high, a takedown of Lucas Browne on HBO, and Parker seeking to rebound after getting the short end versus Anthony Joshua in his last danceoff.

The folks at Sirius/XM’s “At the Fights,” Randy Gordon and Gerry Cooney, checked in with Jennings, age 33, who holds a 23-2 mark.

“Nobody paid me step aside money,” Jennings explained to the hosts, when asked if he was truly blind-sided by the Whyte v Parker mashup, and the Parker people.  “I believe it was just bad ethics. We were all under the impression that everything was a done deal. When things are final, which we see they weren't, you need to keep your word…… As far as I'm concerned, there was an agreement. Maybe a contract was being drawn up, but the agreement is the agreement.”

Ideally, yes.

But the oldest timers know it ain’t over until the contracts are signed and sent back. And even then, wriggling can occur. A lot of really heated fighting goes on outside the ring…