HEAVYWEIGHT JENNINGS SIGNS NEW CONTRACT WITH PELTZ ...

Philadelphia, PA?Undefeated heavyweight Bryant ?By By? Jennings today signed a new three-year agreement with Peltz Boxing Promotions, Inc.

Jennings and Peltz tore up their old agreement and signed a new one which both believe will take the North Philadelphia heavyweight to the world title by the end of 2013.

The 27-year-old Jennings (left) came out of nowhere in 2012, scoring victories over previously unbeaten lefty Maurice Byarm, of Washington, DC, and the big one in his last fight March 24, a ninth-round stoppage of former WBO heavyweight champion Sergei Liakhovich, of Scottsdale, AZ.

?Mickey Mantle went from playing shortstop on a Class C baseball team to centerfield for the New York Yankees in 1951,? said promoter J Russell Peltz. ?That?s exactly what happened to Bryant. He went from fighting six- and eight-round fights on non-TV cards to a pair of big wins on the NBC Sports Network Fight Night series. Suddenly, everyone is paying attention to him.

A pro less slightly more than two years, Jennings is 13-0, 6 K0s, and on the verge of the Top 15. He will be back in action Saturday evening, June 16, at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, on the NBC Sports Network Fight Series show headlined by heavyweights Tomasz Adamek, of Zywiec, Poland, and Eddie Chambers, of North Philadelphia.

Ironically, it was Chambers? bad luck that led to Jennings? good luck.

One week before he was scheduled to fight Liakhovich on Jan. 21 at the Asylum Arena in South Philadelphia, Chambers notified promoter Kathy Duva, of Main Events, that he had suffered a training injury and had to withdraw.

?Fred Jenkins (Jennings? manager) heard about it and called me and asked me to throw Bryant?s name into the mix against Liakhovich,? Peltz said. ?I told Kathy and then, a day later, she told me Liakhovich also couldn?t fight due to a training injury. Jolene Mizzone, of Main Events, offered us Byarm and I didn?t know if Fred and Bryant would fight a lefty on short notice but they agreed and they haven?t looked back since.?

After beating Byarm, Jennings finally got the Liakhovich match in Brooklyn, NY, and dominated from start to finish.

?I?m in a hurry and I don?t have time to waste,? said Jennings, who works a full-time job as a mechanic at the Federal Reserve Bank in Philadelphia. ?I want to fight for the world title by the middle of 2013 and I?ll fight anyone Russell and Fred put in front of me. If I can?t be the best, then I don?t want to be a career boxer. I?ve always done well at sports, whether it was football or basketball or track and that?s how I approach boxing. Either be the best or get out.?

Jennings played football and basketball at Ben Franklin High School in Philadelphia, and also participated in the shot put with the track team. He hung around North Philadelphia recreation centers for a few years before trying his hand at boxing and he went 13-4 in the amateurs, twice losing to veteran lefty Lenroy Thompson in the finals of two national tournaments.

?You have to learn to love boxing,? Jennings said. ?It?s like dating a woman; sooner or later you learn to love her. Sometimes it can be love at first sight, but it wasn?t that way for me. I?m learning to love boxing, but I didn?t feel that way at first.?

AFTER THE BELL

Peltz Boxing Promotions, Inc., also announced the signing of welterweight prospect Rafael Montalvo, of St. Clair, PA. Montalvo, 21, who lost in his pro debut in 2009 in Florida, returned last year and has scored a pair of impressive knockouts over Vinny O?Brien, of East Hanover, NJ, and DeCarlo Perez, of Atlantic City, NJ. He returns June 1 at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem. Earlier this year, Peltz signed lightweight Osnel Charles, of Atlantic City, NJ. Charles, 27, is 9-2, 1 K0. Charles goes against hard-hitting Chris Finley, of Detroit, MI, in a six-round bout on April 14 at Bally?s Atlantic City. Finley is 4-4, 4 K0s. Cruiserweights Garrett Wilson, of Philadelphia, PA, and Andres Taylor, of Johnstown, PA, headline the April 14 card in a 12-round fight for Wilson?s USBA crown and the vacant NABF belt. Wilson is one of five world-ranked fighters with Peltz Boxing. The others are welterweights Mike Jones and Ronald Cruz, junior middleweight Gabriel Rosado and super bantamweight Teon Kennedy.

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