Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
On Saturday, January 14, 2017, James DeGale (23-1-1, 14 KOs) and Badou Jack (20-1-3, 12 KOs) fought to a majority draw to retain their respective Super Middleweight titles at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
In what was supposed to be a unification fight, the two best Super Middleweights in the world engaged in a veritable slugfest to determine the very best at 168-pounds.
However, in such an attempt to seek some kind of certainty in boxing regarding the very best in a division, the boxing gods always manage to do just the opposite: the fight ended in a draw, with Jack keeping his WBC title and DeGale keeping his IBF title. Thus, we still do not know for certain who the best in the division really is.
In the opening round DeGale began quickly from his cagey, southpaw stance. DeGale moved his feet constantly, moving left and right before unleashing quick combinations on Jack.
DeGale threw his combinations like an amateur–that is, with the speed and quickness of an amateur boxer, a style he developed to perfection has he won Olympic gold in 2008. Although he appears not to have much power behind the quick combinations, he landed a straight left hand that dropped Jack in Round 1.
DeGale then spent the next three rounds peppering Jack with combination punches, while Jack slowly acclimated to the quick style of DeGale by investing in some body work and landing one-two combinations. Jack also relied heavily on his high-guard stance,
In Rounds 5 and 6, Jack’s work to the body began to pay off as he landed several unanswered flurries on DeGale, who appeared to be wearing down from Jack’s attack.
Jack even knocked DeGale’s mouthguard out in Round 9, which sent DeGale’s crown–placed in the top part of his teeth–flying to the floor.
In Rounds 10 and 11, DeGale found his second wind and began peppering Jack again with combination punches, but they did not have the same effect that they had in the earlier rounds.
In the final round, Jack dropped DeGale with a left hook and a right uppercut, sending him down for the first time in his career. The fight ended in the center of the ring with both fighters swinging for the fences.
Despite the efforts of both fighters, neither walked away the winner, but both walked away with their titles.
Judge Glenn Feldman scored the fight 112-114 for DeGale, while Julie Lederman and Steve Weisfeld scored the fight a 113-113 draw.
“He was doing a lot of running, he was throwing a lot of shit at my guard,” said Jack after the fight.
“I thought I won the fight. I finished stronger. His knockdown was a flash knockdown,” said Jack.
“I’ve got huge respect for this man, but I thought I won that. I landed the cleanest shots,” said Degale as he showed off his missing tooth.
While neither could agree on who won the fight, both appeared to be willing to fight in a rematch, though Jack has plans to move up to Light Heavyweight.
“Let’s do it again–at Light Heavyweight. It’s time to move to Light Heavyweight,” said Jack.
“Badou Jack has got [sic] too big for 168 pounds. We had plans after this fight to move up to Light Heavyweight,” said Floyd Mayweather, Jack’s promoter.
“This is the second time in a row Badou has gotten a bad decision. James DeGale is a hell of a fighter, but tonight he didn’t win,” said Mayweather.
The fight was indeed close, and DeGale appeared to be on the verge of the stoppage at the end of the fight.
However, we must keep in mind that fights are scored by rounds and that DeGale had a strong lead in the early rounds.
Who do you think won the fight? Let us know in the comment section below.
