Bryant Jennings: “Am I supposed to blow my shot for something else? I’m not looking for an easy fight just to stay active.”

During a recent edition of “On The Ropes” I had a chance to speak with undefeated heavyweight contender Bryant “By-By” Jennings to discuss his most recent win, and also his future in the division. Jennings also gave his thoughts on the upcoming fight between WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne and #1 contender Deontay Wilder. Additionally Bryant shares his opinion on Mayweather Jr’s next fight, and also his career so far. Here is what Bryant Jennings had to say.

Jenna J: You’re coming off of a win over Mike Perez. How do you feel about that win?

Bryant Jennings: I’m just evaluating everything. I already pointed out a lot of my mistakes or things I should have done better. Every fight is not gonna be pretty, but at least I came out with the win and I get to go back to the gym and go watch tape and things like that. I get to do all that with a win, at least I didn’t lose.

Jenna J: What things do you think you could have done better?

Bryant Jennings: I feel as thought I probably could have been first a little more, let my hands go a little more. That all came about with just finding my comfortability level and letting my hands go and making sure that I land certain shots. I kind of did expect him to pressure more but it was kind of like in and out with the activity, so it created some type of inconsistency.

Jenna J: After the fight, Max Kellerman and Jim Lampley said they couldn’t see either of you guys being a risk to Wladimir Klitschko. What do you think of the criticism they have based on this fight?

Bryant Jennings: Well, styles make fights and the type of style that was needed for this fight was to be aggressive but to be more technical and to be careful against a shorter opponent — against an opponent that you have to work in on the inside instead of the outside.

Styles make fights, and Wladimir is a whole different type of fighter, but that don’t mean he’ll be open for any other thing. I abandoned my jab only for the simple fact that I was fighting him (Mike Perez) and he was in the southpaw position and it didn’t seem as close as I’d really wanted it to be. I abandoned my straight right hand, I abandoned a lot of things but I don’t care what they say.

I put in the work to actually get in and I get more criticism than other people that get credit for doing bullshit. I’m not worrying about none of that, I’m just maintaining and doing what I gotta do. When I prove everybody wrong, I don’t want to hear everybody switch up and people jumping all on the bandwagon. I’m very focused and I’m only worried about my progression and my career. I’m gonna do what I got to do, regardless.

Jenna J: You are now the number one contender for the winner of Bermane Stiverne-Deontay Wilder. Who do you believe is going to win that fight?

Bryant Jennings: I think I’m leaning a little more towards Stiverne, for the simple fact that he is the better technical fighter and he does have power as well. Deontay just has a lot of questions, he’s very questionable. I can’t pinpoint nothing really good on him other than power because we haven’t seen anything.

I’m just being real careful with my analysis of the fight and I will have to go with what’s better on paper, experience wise and what I’ve seen from each fighter thus far.

Jenna J: Are you going to try to stay active or are you going to wait for that title shot?

Bryant Jennings: Well what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to blow my shot for something else? I’m not looking for an easy fight just to stay active, but as long as it doesn’t tamper with my position in being the mandatory, of course I would want something to stay busy. If it takes away from me still being in that mandatory position, then I’ll have to do what I have to do and be patient and wait.

Jenna J: On the same card that you fought, Gennady Golovkin easily won his fight over Daniel Geale. What are your thoughts on ‘GGG’ as a fighter?

Bryant Jennings: He’s definitely a beast, he’s definitely a force to be reckoned with. He’s very talented, he’s very powerful, he’s very unique. But I don’t know if he won that easy — I guess Geale was running for his life and he did an okay job at doing it.

Golovkin was just patient and he just did what he had to do, but Geale did try, so it wasn’t like Geale was getting the shit kicked out of him the whole fight — he probably was but he was actually doing good, surviving. I guess it only lasted three rounds, so it’s not much you can say, but I’m not gonna discredit Daniel. He did try but it didn’t last long. ‘GGG’ is a very talented fighter.

Jenna J: Who do you see as a legitimate challenge for Golovkin, from 154lbs to 168lbs?

Bryant Jennings: At 168lbs, I definitely have Andre Ward winning against him. At middleweight, there is nobody. He would smash Peter Quillin, I just have him smashing all of those guys.

I recently saw a list of fighters at 160lbs that could be a possible opponent for him, and all of those guys had no chance. I think his greatest test could be against Julio Cesar Chavez, only because Chavez has a chin and he comes to fight.

Jenna J: I want to get your thoughts on some upcoming fights. This September, Mayweather will be having a rematch with Maidana. What do you think is gonna happen the second time around?

Bryant Jennings: It’s gonna be a cleaner fight, an easier fight for Mayweather. When you fight somebody for the second time, you know exactly what you’re up against. I definitely think it’s gonna be the same outcome, Mayweather is gonna win and Maidana is gonna try to apply more pressure.

Maidana has to be a little more smart and try to pick better shots and have a better accuracy rate at a body part that would affect Floyd. I don’t see him doing all that because he went kind of wild. He threw a lot of punches, he landed a lot of shots on the arms, he would just hit anything, but he has to get his accuracy a little better and target some of the spots that would slow Floyd down. Floyd is definitely a smart fighter and I don’t think that can happen. I got Floyd winning again.

Jenna J: You will be turning 30 soon, what do you think of your career so far to this point?

Bryant Jennings: I couldn’t ask for a better life. I never expected to be a boxer. All this within five years, I’m just enjoying this ride. I’ve adopted this lifestyle, this career as a boxer. I’m doing well and I’m doing everything I need to do to keep it where it is, or elevate it. I like it, I can’t ask for nothing else better.