Deontay "The Bronze Bomber" Wilder became the first American heavyweight champion since Shannon Briggs in 2007 , but another American is hoping to bring the rest of the titles back to the United States.
Bryant "By By" Jennings is set to face Wladimir Klitschko on April 25 at Madison Square Garden for the WBA, WBO and IBF titles, but Wilder doesn't expect the belts to be stateside afterward.
"Jennings is definitely not going to beat Klitschko, who is a taller fighter who knows how to keep his distance," Wilder said, perhaps reminiscing about using his own long jab to blunt Bermane Stiverne's futile attempts to get inside and pound him.
"That's going to be very, very hard for him being that this is the tallest guy that he's ever faced in a competition. I'm not talking about sparring. I'm talking about an actual fight, which is totally different."
Wilder cited Jennings' struggles against Mike Perez as an example of his difficulties against tall fighters. "Jennings struggled against Mike Perez, who's shorter than him but who has some height. See, taller guys like fighting shorter guys because we know how to keep them at bay and at a distance," Wilder said.
Wilder is a former sparring partner of Klitschko's and knows the Ukranian's strengths well. He also made a recommendation to Jennings about the direction he should take his career in.
"Jennings doesn't have the power to knock nobody out. His best chance is as a cruiserweight or a light heavyweight because his power is not built for the heavyweight division. So I see no way in hell that he's going to beat Klitschko."
Wilder plans on being an active champion, and despite suffering a broken hand vs. Stiverne believes he might be back in action by March.
"I hope to be back around about some time in March and we'll see how it goes. I've got to go through therapy and all of that to get it back to being strong. As far as when I'll be getting back into the ring, I'm not sure yet. It's too early to tell. I will let my hand heal up properly first and then we'll go from there."
[Ring TV]
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