James DeGale and Badou Jack Retain Titles, Set Up Super Middleweight Unification Fight

Badou Jack with Floyd Mayweather

IBF world super middleweight champion James DeGale and WBC world super middleweight champion Badou Jack managed to get past their latest opponents on Saturday night to set up a title unification fight against each other.

It didn't come easy for either man. DeGale, who took on tough, gritty Mexican Rogelio Medina, was expected to breeze through the fight as a formality. But, Medina had the British Olympic gold medallist on the back foot for the majority of the fight.

It was a fight which could be scored in all manner of ways depending on your preferences in pugilism. Medina's mounting pressure wore on the Brit—in fact, the Mexican threw over 1,100 punches in the contest. However, DeGale was much more accurate, economical fighter—landing almost half of his punches.

Medina expertly cut off the ring and looked to have DeGale in trouble whenever he had backed his opponent into the ropes with a series of punching flurries. But, DeGale undoubtedly won the majority of exchanges that were free of the bullying style in the corner of the ring, comfortably dealing with Medina in the center of the ring.

In the end, DeGale won a unanimous decision with relatively close scores of 115-113, 117-111—defending his belt for the second time after dethroning American Andre Dirrell. But, as the cacophony of boos raining down upon the announcement of the judge's scorecards indicate, it wasn't the easy fight for DeGale that many had anticipated. DeGale's record is now boosted to 23-1, while Medina's drops to 36-7.

After the end of the 11th stanza, things turned ugly as Medina spat at his opponent in a crass display of poor sportsmanship. In his interview after the fight, he explained that was borne out of frustration. "We saw the fight, he was running all around. He didn't stop me like he said he was going to do. He was headbutting me and I got a little frustrated, so that's why I spit at him. He lost. His face is more marked up than mine. The fans think I won. I think I won. I definitely want a rematch."

DeGale didn't remark on the incident, but he too was frustrated at his own performance. "I watched him years ago and he didn't have the engine like that. And he took a lot of shots in there. I'm disappointed a little bit, because I should be taking out people like Porky Medina. That's no disrespect to him."

It wasn't straightforward for Jack, either. The Money Team's Swedish representative had seemingly done enough against tough Romanian-Canadian Lucian Bute but only got past his opponent through a controversial majority draw.

Two judge's scorecards—those of American Glen Crocker and Mexican Omar Mintun Sr. —had the fight scored as a draw at 114 apiece, while American judge Stephen Rados scored the fight 117-111 in favour of the Swede. As a result, Jack retains his beloved WBC championship.

The scorecards are somewhat baffling due to the significant early work put in by Jack. Bute had no answer for Jack's body shots in the earlier rounds of the fight, struggling to make his own stamp on the contest.

Bute, however, did end the bout well. He pushed the pace in the final three rounds and looked to have got the better of Jack in those nine minutes, dictating the fight and landing a series of crisp left hands. But, there's no way that warranted a draw on the scorecards of those sat ringside. As a result, Jack's record now stands at 20-1-2 while Bute earned the first draw of his career, moving to 32-3-1.

Despite the unsatisfying nature of the ending of both contests, Saturday night did nothing to distinguish the hopes of having the title unification bout between both men which was mooted before those aforementioned fights.

It's an interesting match-up. Both men have recent opponents in common. DeGale handily dealt with Bute in a unanimous decision victory to earn his IBF title, while the record books will always say Jack only managed a draw. Jack, however, did manage to dispatch Medina in six rounds while DeGale was uninspiring against the tough Mexican on Saturday night. Jack's last win was over George Groves in a controversial split decision victory. But, he is the sole man to beat DeGale in the professional ranks, blotting his copybook.

Knowing both DeGale and Jack, Bute and Medina had their thoughts on the inevitable match-up between the pair. Medina unequivocally stated he thinks Jack is the better fighter, while Bute said he thinks it's a 50-50 contest. Either way, it's sure to be an enthralling fight between both Europeans.