Gambian-Swedish three-division world champion Badou Jack has now presumably retired following the announcement of Polish WBC bridgerweight champion Lukasz Rozanski defending his title against British former cruiserweight world champion Lawrence Okolie on May 24th. Though Jack was supposed to face Rozanski for his WBC title last year, which seemed even more so the case after he vacated his WBC cruiserweight title and was designated as the champion-in-recess, this is clearly no longer the case, suggesting Badou Jack has reached the end of his career.
A fight between Badou Jack (28-3-3, 17 KO’s) and Lukasz Rozanski (15-0, 14 KO’s) was expected to be made official last year, with the WBC itself indicating this match-up would happen at the backend of 2023, yet the expected bout mysteriously never surfaced,
In fact, there had been little doubts as to the possibility of the match with Jack willingly forfeiting his WBC cruiserweight title to challenge for the WBC belt of the unestablished bridgerweight division. With the bridgerweight division yet to be fully acknowledged by every institution in boxing, the relinquishment of his cruiserweight title was regarded as a step back as being the WBC bridgerweight champion would not offer Jack anything substantial in regards to standing or achievements.
Moreover, Badou Jack was already a legitimate champion when he conquered the WBC cruiserweight belt after stopping the then-incumbent WBC champion Ilunga Makabu (29-4, 25 KO’s) last year in February in a dominant performance, thus Jack’s move to vacate his title raised plenty of eyebrows, despite him being designated as a champion-in-recess―which would enable him to challenge for the WBC title upon his return to the cruiserweight division.
With Lukasz Rozanski now officially scheduled to face Lawrence Okolie (19-1, 14 KO’s) on May 24th, the opportunity for Badou Jack to become the WBC bridgerweight champion has definitively passed, and the multi-division champion now finds himself in a likely state of retirement―with the WBC cruiserweight title now belonging to Noel Gevor Mikaelyan (27-2, 12 KO’s) who defeated Makabu last year after the title was vacated by Badou Jack.
While Badou Jack is currently still regarded as the WBC champion-in-recess according to the WBC’s latest rankings, there is no doubt that Jack is closer to a state of retirement following the recent turn of events, and taking into account that Jack is currently 40 years of age and has had a lengthy career that has spanned since 2009.
While Badou Jack’s amateur career did not see him win anything notable, with the crowning highlight of that career remaining his participation in the 2008 Beijing Olympics which saw him lose in the first round, Jack turned out to be an excellent professional boxer as he paved a pro career that should see him become considered a Hall of Famer at some point.
During his professional career, Jack became a three-division world champion―having conquered titles at super middleweight, light-heavyweight, and cruiserweight―and filled his resume with many notable names including Adonis Stevenson, George Groves and Jean Pascal.
While Badou Jack has fallen victim many times to contentious decisions or bouts of bad luck―such as gruesome untimely injuries during matches, the Gambian-Swedish former champion’s last match against Makabu, whereafter he became the WBC cruiserweight champion, will have proven to be one of the most memorable and crowning achievements of his career after the countless disappointments he faced, and will remain one of the best ways a fighter could close the chapter to a potential Hall of Fame career.
