Heavyweight contender Bryant Jennings is happy to be getting ready to fight for the first time in 20 months.
"It's been a long, crazy wait," Jennings told ESPN this week. "I'm pumped up but at the same time I'm calm. I'm a little anxious, but I'm on point as well. I've never taken a fighter lightly so I have trained well. I am on point and ready to go."
With a plan in place to move him into a second world title fight, Jennings returns to face journeyman opponent Daniel Martz on Saturday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska. The fight will take place on the undercard of the Terence Crawford-Julius Indongo undisputed junior welterweight world championship bout.
ESPN and ESPN Deportes will televise the main card, beginning at 10 p.m. ET. The entire card, including Jennings' preliminary bout, will stream live on the ESPN app, beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET.
After scoring three strong victories in 2013 and 2014 against Andrey Fedosov, Artur Szpilka and Mike Perez, Jennings got a shot at then-world champion Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 and acquitted himself well. Although Jennings lost a unanimous decision, he had fought as well as anyone had against Klitschko during his long title reign.
"[Joseph] Parker is a champion. He has a belt right now and those are the things you are after as a fighter. Having a belt is one of my goals." Bryant Jennings
But then the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Jennings, in his first bout with trainer John David Jackson, lost a second consecutive fight in December 2015, when he got knocked out in the seventh round of an exciting fight with unbeaten contender Luis "King Kong" Ortiz.
Most figured Jennings, 32, would take a few months off, regroup and be back in the ring in a meaningful fight. But he has not fought since.
"It was 100 percent promotional. I had no injuries whatsoever," said Jennings, who did not begin boxing until he was 24 and had only 17 amateur bouts. "I was always ready to get back in the ring and I did have a couple of offers, but the offers were definitely not in my favor."
It came down to a disagreement with former co-promoter Gary Shaw over what the right fights were. Jennings was offered a fight with Anthony Joshua in England (before Joshua won a heavyweight title) for about $600,000 and another overseas fight for about $180,000. Neither offer was to his liking.
Jennings said he held no resentment toward Shaw, who had been pivotal in getting him on HBO and the world title fight, and both say they remain friendly.
As Jennings said, "It was just business. I was staying on the phone with [managers James Prince and Josh Dubin] and speaking on our plans. On April 22, I was free. The contract was breached and I got my release. I reached out to Gary. We had a cool relationship and I'm glad things didn't go sour. We're still good."
Soon after the contract with Shaw was over, Jennings, who still is co-promoted by Antonio Leonard, signed with Top Rank, whose chairman, Bob Arum, has long had a good relationship with Prince.
Saturday is the start of the comeback, with Jennings (19-2, 10 KOs) taking on Martz (15-4-1, 12 KOs), 26, of Clarksburg, West Virginia, in an eight-round fight with the plan to have at least one more fight this year, maybe two. Then Arum said he hopes to line Jennings up for a world title fight with New Zealand's Joseph Parker, whom he co-promotes with Duco Events, next spring in the United States.
Parker (23-0, 18 KOs) first must retain his world title against mandatory challenger Hughie Fury (20-0, 10 KOs) on Sept. 23.
"I've talked to David Higgins from Duco and he loves the idea and he would be amenable to a Parker fight with Jennings in the United States," Arum said.
Jennings likes the plan Arum has drawn up.
"Parker is a champion. He has a belt right now and those are the things you are after as a fighter," Jennings said. "Having a belt is one of my goals."
During the layoff, Jennings said there was a "high level" of frustration but he kept himself occupied.
"I was learning things and occupied with different businesses and investments, but at the same time I was learning in the gym and in life," Jennings said. "I couldn't do much about the [boxing inactivity]. If it's something you can't do much about, you just have to be patient. Patience is key. I found positive things to do with my time."
Jennings owned an apartment in South Florida, which is also where Jackson's gym is located. Jennings said during 2016 he went back and forth between his hometown of Philadelphia and Boca Raton 40 times to hit the gym, and also to keep up with various real estate investments.
And while he may not have had any official fights, Jennings said he stayed busy sparring to help other fighters get ready for bouts, including David Haye, Alexander Povetkin and Shannon Briggs.
"The irritation [of the layoff] comes when you running out of projects," Jennings said. "But I put my money to use. I put it to work. I was buying houses. But I was also having numerous conversations [with managers Prince and Dubin]."
After the managers had laid the foundation for the deal with Top Rank, Jennings went to meet with Arum at his Las Vegas office.
"The meeting went well," he said. "Bob was able to read me and I was able to read him. I'm sold, he's sold, so this should be smooth. I like the plan Bob has. It definitely creates progress. It's right there laid out for me and it sounds better than, 'I don't know when you're going to fight.'"
Arum said he took a quick liking to Jennings and has high hopes for him.
"He is a very intelligent young man and has a great personality," Arum said. "He has all the elements to being a huge star. But to get a chance for him to use those gifts of communication and charisma, he has to perform in the ring.
"Can he reach that level in the ring, having come close but failed the last time he tried? I don't know. But if anyone can do it, he has the intelligence to do that."