Badou Jack moved up in weight in 2017 in hopes of capturing another world title and hopefully avoid another controversial draw. Unfortunately, the luck of the draw found Jack in yet another quest to win a world title.
Jack fought WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson to a majority draw in the main event of a Showtime Championship Boxing card in Toronto. Two of the three judges had scored the fight a 114-114 draw while the third judge had Jack winning 115-113. It would be the fourth time Jack fought a fight that ended in a draw and it is the second time it has happened in his last three fights, all world title bouts.
Stevenson dominated the first half of the fight by landing his trademark left hand while Jack opted to play defense throughout most of the first six rounds of the fight. Stevenson had hurt Jack with body shots, but Jack was able to handle Stevenson’s power.
The challenger did manage to mount a comeback starting in the seventh round as Stevenson, who is 40 years old, appeared to look tired. Jack landed numerous headshots, eventually causing Stevenson to bleed from his nose. Jack appeared to be on his way to winning on the scorecards until Stevenson caught his second wind in the 11th round with a wicked body shot that severely hurt Jack. The 12th round saw both men trade blows with each other with each fighter getting a chance to win the round by landing several power combinations.
Once the fight was ruled a draw, Jack looked shocked and disappointing he had another draw. In a post-fight interview with Showtime, Jack said he firmly believes he won the fight and offered an interesting take on why he’s not winning fights on the scorecards.
"I thought I definitely won the fight. No judge had him winning. I have no idea why I can't get a decision. It could be that they're jealous of Floyd and don't like him. I'm one of his top fighters. I can't do anything about it. I'm not the judge. I have to respect their decision," Jack said.
For the fight, Jack was the more accurate puncher while Stevenson was the more active fighter. According to SHoStats, Stevenson landed 165 of 622 total punches (27 percent) while Jack connected 209 of 549 total punches (38 percent).
Jack was fighting for his second world title at 175 pounds after briefly winning the WBA “regular” light heavyweight last year. Jack has also held the WBC super middleweight title until 2017 when his last title defense against James DeGale also ended in a draw.
Stevenson has now successfully defended his WBC title nine times after winning the title in 2013. The draw also snapped Stevenson’s 16-fight win streak, which started all the way back in 2011. Regarding the possibility of a rematch, both men said they would be interested fighting for 12 more rounds.
