A minor upset of sorts occurred in Jack vs Bute at The Armory, Washington D.C., with the night’s headliner ending in a Majority Draw. The judges got blasted by Jack and promoter Floyd Mayweather post fight, but the judges seemed closer to getting it right than wrong. Official scores came in at 117-111 and 114-114 twice, while here at BB we had it for Badou Jack in a close 115-113 contest.
Jack, who of course retains his WBC Super Middleweight title, nonetheless, leaves the ring with 20 wins, 1 defeat, 2 draws, 12 knockouts, while the seasoned Lucian Bute now picks up another blemish, dropping to 32 wins, 4 defeats, 25 knockouts.
Jack got off to a strong start thanks to his sharper work, body attacks and poise, earning himself the first five stanzas here at BB, but the encounter became a whole lot more competitive from the 6th round onwards. Bute found the confidence and flow he’d been lacking, and started to putting together some nice combinations which let Jack know he wasn’t ready for the scrap heap just yet. In fact, anything but.
With newfound vigor and drive, Bute worked his way back into the fight, taking rounds 10-12 by making a tiring Jack fairly uncomfortable under a steady flow of combinations. While a Draw verdict does leave a slightly bitter taste in the mouth, this isn’t one of the most controversial nights in boxing, and certainly not in recent times. Bute’s engine was stronger in the second half and Jack failed to contain him. And when that happens, fights obviously get awful close.
Anyway, it’s in the books, and now we supposedly have James DeGale vs Jack to look forward to possibly in September 2016. It’s a decent matchup, and all the more tastier given it’s a WBC, IBF unification. It seems to have arguably lost some of its clout, however, following Jack’s performance tonight. What say you, fight fans? Give us your take on Jack vs Bute in the comments, plus the appeal of DeGale vs Jack.
