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Cloutier’s Canada Corner
Jack vs. DeGale In Preparation;
Bute Will Join The Gym Group
By Daniel Cloutier
MONTRÉAL - The Swedish Badou Jack, the WBC super
middleweight champion of the world, wants absolutely to
fight the IBF champion of the world of that division, the
British James DeGale…. and De Gale wants absolutely to face
Jack. A unification world titles bout seems inevitable in
the circumstances.
“Yes, I really want to fight DeGale to unify the WBC and the
IBF super middleweight world titles, and I know De Gale has
the same desire”, said Jack, few minutes after he kept his
title with a majority draw obtained against the Montrealer
Romanian Lucian Bute, Saturday evening in the ring of the
D.C. Armory Centre in Washington.
Just before the bout Jack-Bute, DeGale kept his IBF belt in
beating the Mexican Rogelio Medina by unanimous decision in
12 rounds. “Jack wants to fight me and I really want to
fight him, said DeGale. It’s crucial for him like for me to
unify the 168 pounds world titles. I hope this bout will
become reality this year or next year. For sure, our
managers and promoters will certainly have serious
discussions about this project in the weeks to come. I have
the conviction I am the best super middleweight in the
world, and Jack is pretending it’s him who the best. In the
circumstances, a unification titles bouts is inevitable.”
Saturday evening, DeGale got a very intense bout with his
third contender, the Mexican Rogelio Medina (30-7-0), but he
finally won the bout by unanimous decision. For DeGale, it
was a second successful defence of his IBF super
middleweight championship of the world.
Jack (20-1-2), him, still persuaded he was deserving the win
Saturday evening. A judge score the bout 117-111 en favour
of Jack and the two others judges got an identical scores of
114-114.
“A majority draw in the circumstances, it’s shit, said Jack.
I won’t denied that Bute gave me a good opposition, he is a
talented fighter, but I was certainly deserving a win. I am
positive I connected more solid punches than Bute, and
dominated more rounds than him.”
His promoter, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0-0), was mad also.”I
will certainly protest against the work of the judges in
this bout, said Mayweather. No doubt in my mind my fighter
was the winner of this fight. Badou is right, he connected
most power punches and dominated more rounds than Lucian
Bute. I will talk to the WBC authorities and the Showtime
authorities next week, to talk about the work of the judges
in this fight. No doubt that Badou is deserving to face
James De Gale to unify the WBC and IBF super middleweight
(168 pounds) championships of the world. We gonna work
seriously to make this unification titles bouts a reality. I
am positive the boxing fans around the world would love to
see a match up Badou Jack-James De Gale…. including me and
the people in my team.”
According tothe fight’s statistician, Jack connected 278
punches against 179 for Bute. Bute, on his side, will leave
the InterBox Group next week to join the GYM Group. The
Bute’s contract with InterBox expired Saturday, few hours
before his bout with Badou Jack. Why with the GYM Group? The
Bute’s manager, the Californian negotiator AlHaymon wants to
deal with the GYM Group, not with InterBox. However, GYM and
InterBox are working in partnership, than, Bute will still
in the pictures of the two Montrealers organizations.
After the bout, Bute did not want to comment his probable
decision to join the GYM Group. “I said it and I repeat it,
my fight with Badou Jack was extremely closed, and I am very
disappointed of this result, said Bute. in my head and in my
heart , I got the feeling I did enough to be declare the
winner. Obviously, the judges of the bout were not agree
with me. Anyway, for the second time in a row, I proved I
still part of the elite of the international super
middleweight division. I got a great performance against
James De Gale last November in Québec City (De Gale won the
bout by unanimous decision), and I got another good
performance against Badou Jack. I strongly believe I am
deserving another shot for a world title. Anyway, I will sit
my my manager and my trainers (Howard and Otis Grant) in the
next days, to decide what I gonna do in the months to come.
The Las Vegas bookies established DeGale favorite by 10 to
one, Badou Jack by four to one.
Bernard Barré, the scout of the GYM Group, a man who knows
all the fighters ranked in the world, said:” Bute and Medina
gave a great opposition to the favorites Saturday evening. I
guess the Las Vegas bookies underestimated the value of Bute
and Medina.”
DeGale was persuaded to beat Medina by KO or TKO... and Bute
was sure to come back in Montréal with the WBC belt in his
luggages.
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