Friday’s NBC Sports Fight Night card from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, presented a line-up of intriguing matches, with future title shots and big events at stake for the winners. In the main event, undefeated American heavyweight Bryant Jennings looked to continue his ascent against Andrey Fedosov. In the co-feature, hard-hitting Sergey Kovalev looked to blow past another opponent en route to a championship fight, this time in the form of Cornelius White.
Take a look at the complete results from the card below.
Bryant Jennings vs. Andrey Fedosov
Heavyweight contender Bryant Jennings moved to 17-0 (9 KOs) with a TKO over Andrey Fedosov after 6 rounds of good heavyweight action. Fedosov falls to 24-3 (19 KOs).
Jennings, 227.5 ,and Fedosov, 224.5, met in ring center with Jennings flashing the left. Fedosov moves forward, hands high, with some flurries to the body. In competitive trading, each work the body. Jennings outmaneuvered Fedosov and landed some nifty shots to win the round.
Jennings being pushed here. Fedosov is cutting the ring off well and going to the body with gusto, throwing tight and swift body-shots. Jennings is moving well and timing Fedosov with individual shots. Close second round. In the third, things changed on a dime. An explosive right uppercut-left hook put Fedosov in peril, as he buckled backwards. Jennings pelted a teetering Fedosov with shots for almost a minute. Fedosov fires back and some moments of rock ’em-sock-’em robots ensues, with a game Fedosov hanging in there against an arm-weary Jennings. Big round Jennings.
Fedosov looks good to open the 4th with some more snappy body-shots, but he’s palpably more-respectful, though hardly reserved. Jennings is probably trying to get his wind back, as he looks sluggish. Neither set the world on fire in round 4 other than the final ten seconds in an attempt to steal a toss-up round. Nice action to open the fifth. Both flash nice speed. Jennings rocks Fedosov a bit with a left hook. It’s a tough fight and a nice match-up of styles. The advancing Fedosov is probably more robust a challenge than what most were predicting. The more stylish Jennings is laboring to maintain a tenuous upper-hand. Fedosov’s eye is looking a little the worse for wear.
Jennings fires off some fast shots to open the second half of the fight, but he loses momentum when Jennings gets him on the ropes. Jennings really digs in during the final minute to take the round. Fedosov’s left eye falls into further disrepair. He seemed to be fading out of the fight a little bit.
In between rounds, the fight is stopped! With his left eye swollen nearly shit, he is deemed unfit to continue. Didn’t seem that bad, but Kovalev said he couldn’t see. A gutsy win for Jennings, who needed to rely on his full and considerable range of talents to repel the challenge of the skillful Russian. He stays on track as the USA’s top heavyweight hope.
Sergey Kovalev vs. Cornelius White
In a 10 round light heavyweight attraction, Sergey Kovalev scored a third round TKO over Cornelius White. Kovalev moves to 21-0-1 (19 KOs), with White now at 21-2 (16 Kos). The time was 1:42.
The highly-rated Kovalev, 30, opened the fight advancing on White, 31. Coming off a 3rd round knockout over ex-champ Gabriel Campillo, looked for another quick evening as he had White under immediate distress. With his only loss a first round stoppage to Don George, White will have his work cut out for him. The 6’2″ White steadied himself and landed a few nice jabs before Kovalev opened up again to end the first. Gotta say, Kovalev is very fluid, strong, and hard to read.
More of the same in the second, with White struggling to remain composed in the midst of the Kovalev onslaught. The Florida-based Russian contender worked well to the head and the body. White landed a nice right to end the round, with trainer Frank Tate shouting instructions from ringside.
White stung Kovalev with a jab to open the third, but then Kovaelv upped the stakes. A hook/jab floored White, who rose only to take more. another flurry put White down again. The game White rose at 7 and Kovalev pounced. A left hook put him down for the third time and the referee called it off. Whether Kovalev is ready for the absolute top of the class at 175 remains to be seen. It’s hard to not get excited, though, when seeing a hard-hitting aggressive fighter who is downright entertaining. Word is, with the B-Hop-Karo Murat fight scrapped, that this was for the mandatory spot, so perhaps Kovalev will get the shot. That would be a highly-interesting match-up.
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Thanks for checking out our coverage of Friday’s NBC Sports Fight Night card, and the Kovalev vs. White and Jennings vs. Fedosov results. Be sure to check back with us throughout the coming days for more aftermath and analysis.
