What was supposed to be a huge celebratory win for Swedish-Gambian fighter Badou Jack was slightly marred by the interest in the main event that took place on the fight card between social media influencer Jake Paul, and scion of the Fury boxing family, Tommy Fury. Badou Jack defeated former WBC Cruiserweight champion, Ilunga Makabu, by stoppage to become a three-division world champion. They were the co-main event of the fight card that was held at the Diriyah Arena in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday, February 26th.
Despite Badou Jack (28-3-3, 17 KO’s), 39, being Ilunga Makabu’s (29-3, 25 KO’s), 35, senior by at least four years, the former Light-Heavyweight and Middleweight world champion put up a dazzling display of conditioning and skill as he coursed towards a dominant victory over Makabu over a course of twelve rounds.
From the onset of the fight, Badou Jack was determined and focus as he made sure to demonstrate his advanced boxing skillset to Makabu. Makabu, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, struggled immensely as he failed to accurately hit Jack with his power punches and seemed to struggle with fitness mid-way through his attacks as he expended great energy in seeking to cut off the ring and score any blow he could on Badou Jack.
Jack was swift and agile on his feet as he kept the larger and younger man at bay. Not known as a good boxer, Makabu was forced to find his way to the inside but could barely avoid being peppered by Badou Jack’s jabs and failed to truly make a dent in Jack when he did arrive inside the pocket. Jack seemed very well-prepared as he defended against each onslaught of the Congolese fighter and maintained his distance effectively. While he did fight at range, Badou Jack did not shy away from fighting up close, especially in the latter rounds where he allowed himself to loosed more combinations than he had in the earlier half of the fight.
In the fourth and twelfth round, Makabu suffered a knockdown and the latter seemed to be fatal as Badou Jack capitalized on Makabu’s vulnerability later throughout the round to finish him off with a set of ruthless and effective combinations. With Makabu unable to answer any of Jack’s shots, the referee was forced to step in the last round of the fight and Badou Jack was declared the winner by technical knockout not long after. With his victory, Badou Jack became the WBC’s Cruiserweight world champion which allowed him to become a three-division champion after conquering world titles at Middleweight and Light-Heavyweight earlier in his career.
With Makabu having lost in the third defense of his title after first conquering it in early 2020 against Michal Cieslak, he will now be looking to recuperate a career. While he had not been a champion for long, Makabu had been relatively uninterested in fighting any of the other Cruiserweight champions, and seemed much more content waiting on a Canelo – and likely a big payday – fight rather than challenging himself to unify or even become undisputed. Though powerful and though, Makabu is known to lack a decent amount of skill as opposed to many of his peers in the division, and his match with Jack has proved to be a fatal undertaking from which he will be hard-pressed to recover from.
With his match with Canelo now safely considered to not occur – as long as he is not a world champion, Makabu will need to re-evaluate his career as he recuperates from a tough fight with a thorough veteran in Badou Jack.
Following his third world title victory, Badou Jack has also made history becoming the first Muslim to become a world champion, which is compounded even more with a victory in a Muslim country being the fight was held in Saudi Arabia. With Badou Jack’s career having seen quite a few downs with narrow draws or losses against renowned fighters such as James DeGale, Adonis Stevenson and Jean Pascal (36-6-1, 20 KO’s), Jack has finally been able to break a somewhat unlucky streak of decisions against him and pulled through to net a massive victory for his legacy.
