THE BADOU JACK STORY
Badou Jack has gone from Sweden to Toronto, via Las Vegas and Shannon Briggs, yet his talents have largely been hidden away. Here, in a frank conversation with Chris Walker, he explains why he’s ready to break out against Adonis Stevenson
The light-heavy contender reflects on the pivotal moments in his life
YOU know it took a while, but it’s finally happening.” Badou Jack can feel it. The appreciation. It’s been a long time coming. For too long, Jack’s efforts went somewhat unnoticed. People saw him, but they did not remember him. He was the office worker who came in first, stayed at his desk during lunch, and returned from his job to a home where his wife and kids had long since gone to bed. These daily sacrifices for so long came without significant reward or recognition, but now things have changed. The pats on the back have multiplied, and now that promotion is finally here.
Jack has left his Las Vegas base and headed north east to Toronto, Canada, where Adonis Stevenson will be waiting for him. The prize at stake, the Haitiancanadian’s WBC light-heavyweight crown, is a title the 34-year-old desperately wants, and the one he held down at 168lbs. Even so, Jack struggled to elevate himself into a position where the majority of the sport’s observers viewed him as anything more than just a good fighter. In a banner year, Jack, with guts aplenty, secured a dramatic super-middleweight draw with James Degale in January, before moving to 175lbs in August and disposing of Nathan Cleverly. His move a division north was not accompanied by much optimism, but his arrival at one of boxing’s most stacked weight classes yielded an immediate return.
“Were you listening?” growls Jack, 22-1-2 (13), during our late night call.
“Nobody wanted to listen when I said I’d
be a different proposition altogether without having to make the weight and getting my body all the way down to 168lbs. The rematch between me and Degale would have been straight business because you saw the first fight, but the only way it could’ve happened for me was to be at 175. “I wanted Degale to come up with me and do the fight again, but he stayed and it’s sad what happened to him [splitting two fights with the unfancied Caleb Truax]. My body knew it was time to change.” Applying himself to new surroundings has become habit for Jack. The Swede, a successful international amateur, spent the early part of his professional apprenticeship gaining experience throughout Scandinavia. A chance meeting with vocal heavyweight Shannon Briggs meant a massive upheaval to America’s East Coast, where he enjoyed opportunities on various Lou Dibella shows. “Shannon was good to me, he helped me out a lot by letting me stay with him and showing me an awful lot,” Jack explains. “It was a big decision to come out here, but one I knew I had to make. America is still where you have to come to prove yourself.” There is some truth to Jack’s last statement. The gyms of America, those with a deserved reputation, have been the scene of some of boxing’s most brutal examinations. And despite being a rung below an actual prize fight, there is no doubting the value of a sparkling sparring performance behind closed doors. So when Floyd Mayweather watched one of Jack’s rehearsals, the prospect made sure he did not forget a single line. ³
NOBODY WANTED TO WANTED TO LISTEN WHEN I SAID I’D BE A DIFFERENT PROPOSITION ALTOGETHER WITHOUT HAVING TO MAKE WEIGHT”
Starting a new chapter under Mayweather’s promotional banner, Jack endured a quiet start as a 2013 draw with unheralded contender Marco Antonio Periban cast doubts regarding what level he could reach. Those doubts became giggles of ridicule soon after as Jack was obliterated in 61 seconds by the unsung Derek Edwards.
Jack was a figure of confusion when caught with a stunning right hand, and I sense from him a certain reluctance to discuss his only career loss that is still citied by some critics as evidence of his limitations.
“That fight was just a fluke, and you can see that by what I’ve done since,” rushes Jack, eschewing any insight into the feelings that raced through his battered body that night. He is clearly keen to move on to the next subject, but there remains a dark fascination surrounding such defeat and its effects. I compliment his resilience in rebounding from the setback, his victories over Anthony Dirrell and George Groves in particular, before again trying to take him back to the Edwards fight, and that moment his career was in ruins.
“It was a big lesson,” he finally reflects. “It told me what I had to do if I wanted to be the best, but I always knew that I’d be okay afterwards. There’s a difference in getting caught with a good shot and getting caught with a beating, and I got caught with a good shot. As long as I didn’t make the same mistake again then I knew I’d be okay. My team still had faith in me, and that helped me so much in the days afterwards, but there was a little embarrassment to lose that way because I knew I was a much better fighter than him; look at our careers since. That’s why I call it a fluke because he’s done nothing since and look where I am.”
Positive statements consistently emanate from Jack. You get this from most fighters, and when you are not hearing them saying it, you see it relentlessly on social media. It has become quite the fashion, but I can believe the sincerity that little bit more from Jack. The defeat against Edwards followed him around like a deranged ex-girlfriend and was a constant nuisance when assessing his chances against the leading names at super-middleweight moving forward. Jack strode ahead at every opportunity, carving out an impressive ledger that took him close to the pinnacle of 168lbs, despite being an underdog in almost every fight.
Capturing the WBC strap against Dirrell, Jack would make successful defences against Groves, and then Lucian Bute, before his unification showdown with Degale became one of the fights of 2017. Jack touched down in the battle’s opener, but the fight then became his whole career in a nutshell, as he rallied back from turbulence to grab a draw at the final bell. It was a fitting way to depart the division
that had finally given him the plaudits he deserved.
“That was a hell of a fight, and I said immediately after, that I was worried what it might’ve done to James Degale,” Jack considers. “He’s a very tough fighter, but the way he fights is crazy and I don’t know how much I took from him that night.
“Even fights before me, he was always in good fights, and I think that might’ve caught up with him in the first Truax fight because he didn’t look like the same fighter that I fought. Who knows what the problem is, maybe his body is getting like how mine got at 168lbs. A move to light-heavyweight may do him the world of good. I hope he’s okay, as he’s a great fighter.”
Jack’s debut at his new weight saw him thrust straight into ‘title’ class. He stole Cleverly’s WBA secondary belt with all the menace of a school bully. The Welshman had no answer to Jack’s regular attacks and he was rescued in the fifth stanza, following an almighty beatdown. Thanks to one brief performance in the talentladen light-heavyweight class, Jack had put one of boxing’s most notorious neighbourhoods on notice.
“Please, I’m asking you, don’t let the fight tell you more about Cleverly than me,” Jack insists. “Nathan Cleverly is a good, world-class fighter who only loses to good fighters. He’s been in there with some good guys like [Sergey] Kovalev and [Tony] Bellew, and he’s shown just how tough he is in other fights too.
“I told the whole world that I was struggling at 168lbs with the weight, and getting myself to be the best I could possibly be, but me and the team knew exactly what I’d bring once I made the move to lightheavyweight.
“I could’ve taken a couple fights to grow into the weight but what’s the point? I’m here to be the very best and to get paid for being the very best too.”
Currently, Jack is not recognised as the best. He certainly believes in himself, but only victory over Stevenson will bring widespread belief from the world.
The fight, one of the very best that can be made in boxing today, is Jack’s ultimate test, as he opposes a devastating puncher who has reigned dominantly for the last five years.
“I know what he does well, and you’ll see how much I’m aware of that when we finally meet,” Jack says of Stevenson. “You know this is going to be a good fight because we’re two fighters never afraid not to bring it. Right now for me, Stevenson and Kovalev are the two at the front since Andre [Ward] retired, and I’m only interested in fighting the very best because that’s where I believe I make my name and make those cheques.”
Jack has come a long way since departing Sweden all those years ago. Fatigued on our phone call following a lengthy flight from his birthland back to his Las Vegas home, Jack, with a weary laugh, tells me that he finished runner-up for the Swedish Sportsman of the Year award to “some discus thrower” [Daniel Ståhl]. Victory over Stevenson would surely see him go one better next time, as he will return to his native country a boxing superstar with the respect and admiration of an entire sport.
I WORRY WHAT I DID TO JAMES DEGALE. HE’S VERY TOUGH, BUT HE FIGHTS CRAZY”