DeGale vs. Jack

By Allan Fox: WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack and IBF champion James DeGale will be facing each other on January 14 on Showtime Championship Boxing from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Dan Rafael is reporting the news. It’s still not official though. There’s still some red tape that needs to be cleared up on the New York State Athletic Commission-approved insurance policy.

This is a great fight for the boxing world to have DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs) and Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs) facing each other to eliminate one of the champions to unify the division. The two fighters fought on the same Showtime card seven months ago on April 30 at the Armory in Washington, DC.

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By Scott Gilfoid: IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs) is about to take a TREMENDOUS risk with his career in facing WBC 168lb champion Badou Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs) in a unification match on January 14 on Showtime Boxing at a still to be determined venue in the U.S.

DeGale, 30, believes that he’s the best fighter in the 168lb division despite the fact that he struggled BADLY in his recent fights against Rogelio Mendez, Lucian Bute and Andre Dirrell. Those were not the performances that you would expect to see from someone blabbering about how he’s the best in the super middleweight division.

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By Eric Baldwin: Showtime Boxing has confirmed that IBF super middleweight champion James “Chunky” DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs) will be fighting a unification match against WBC 168lb champion Badou Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs) on January 14, 2017 on Showtime at a still to be determined venue. The two fighters fought earlier this year on April 30 on Showtime from the Armory in Washington, DC, and it was thought that they would soon be facing each other.

Unfortunately, it’s taken a little longer than anyone expected it to take for the two of them to fight. By the time DeGale and Jack meet up in January, 2017, they’ll both have been outside of the ring for nine months. That’s a long time for world champions to be outside of the ring.

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By Allan Fox: The unification match between IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs) and WBC 168lb champion Badou Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs) will be pushed back from September to November, according to Dan Rafael. It’s unclear why the fight is being pushed back other than there needing to be more time to market the fight to make it bigger.

Badou and DeGale both failed to impress in their recent title defenses last April at the DC Armory in Washington, DC. Badou was held to a 12 round draw by 36-year-old former IBF 168lb champion Lucian Bute.

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By Scott Gilfoid: The World Boxing Council has ordered WBC Silver super middleweight champion James DeGale (17-1, 11 KO’s) to face #5 WBC Badou Jack (16-0-1, 11 KO’s) in a WBC 168 lb. title eliminator bout. The winner of the DeGale-Jack fight will be the mandatory challenger for WBC 168 lb. champion Sakio Bika.

#3 WBC, DeGale and Jack’s promoters will now look to negotiate the fight. If they’re unable to come to an agreement then fight will go to purse bids on February 14th.

DeGale’s promoter is looking to have the take place on March 1st in the UK. I’m not sure how U.S based Badou Jack will feel about having to fight DeGale in front of his own British fans when he’s the one with the unbeaten record and not DeGale, but if they make it worthwhile in terms of money then I imagine Jack may be agreeable to that.

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