Jack and DeGale battle to unification draw
BADOU Jack knocked out a tooth and almost knocked out the referee but he couldn’t convince the judges on Saturday that he did enough against James DeGale to become the unified super-middleweight champion.
Both champs suffered knockdowns in the action-packed title fight which ended in a draw after two judges scored it 113-113 and the other had it 114-112 in favour of DeGale.
The fighters retained their belts and each complained afterwards that they had won the fight at the Barclays Center arena.
World Boxing Council champion Jack was knocked down in the opening round when he got hit by a left hand.
It was the third time he had been knocked down in his career, but he gained a measure of revenge by knocking out one of DeGale’s teeth in the 10th round.
DeGale barely survived the final round when he was knocked down by a r ight uppercut on the chin. He managed to get up but threw very few punches during the rest of the 12th round.
“I t hought I won t he f ight,” Sweden’s Jack said in t he ring i mmediately fol low i ng t he fight. “I finished stronger. His k no c k dow n w a s a f l a s h knockdown.”
International Boxing Federation champ DeGale was standing next to Jack and had heard enough.
“Don’t l isten to t his r ubbi sh. I t h rew t he clea nest shots,” sa id DeGa le, who is t he f i rst Br iton to win bot h Oly mpic gold a nd a professiona l world t it le.
“I got huge respect for this man. He is tough, he’s durable, he’s skilful. You are the man [but] I won that fight.”
DeGale said he felt those punches from Jack in the 12th. He managed to gather his senses and buy some time by getting into a clinch.
“I was kind of hurt. I am willing to do it again,” DeGale said.
‘Bad for boxing’
O n e o f t h e s t r a n g e s t moments i n a br ut a l, but t hri l ling, f ig ht took place at the end the fifth round, when Jack accident a l ly pu nched Art hur Mercanti Jr, sending t he referee staggering across t he ring.
Mercanti shook it off, took a couple of sips of water, and returned to action for the sixth round.
Jack’s promoter Floyd Mayweather also complained about the scoring.
“This is the second time in a row Badou has gotten a bad decision,” Mayweather said.
“James DeGale is a hell of a fighter, but tonight he didn’t win. At the end of the day, I don’t know what the judges are looking at. “This is bad for boxing.” DeGale and Jack will likely have to set up a rematch to determine who is the best 168pound fighter in the world.
On the undercard, Ger vonta Dav is k nocked out Jose Pedraza in the seventh round to c apt u re t he I BF ju n ior lig ht weight t it le.
The 22-year-old Davis won his 17th straight fight with no losses with a dominant performance against the Puerto Rican, who was making his third title defence.