James DeGale vs Badou Jack was great - but we may be denied a rematch

IBF super-middleweight champion, Britain’s James DeGale, and his WBC counterpart Badou Jack could not be separated at the Barclays Center in Saturday’s big title unification fight.

Two of the three judges who were ringside in Brooklyn had the contest even 113-113, the other having awarded it 114-112 in DeGale’s favour. While my scorecard came up the same as the two who had it even, I’ve since spoken to and heard from many a fight fan who had DeGale up by two and many, if not more who had Jack ahead by two.

As I’ve stated several times regarding Andre Ward’s slender win over Sergey Kovalev late last year, such ‘controversy’ (a term I use very loosely and only in reference to how many others are – in reality close fights are going to provoke different opinions as opposed to clear daylight robberies) is the quickest way to make fans excited to see a rematch.

Jack and DeGale are certainly at that stage now. A second fight would be a fantastic prospect based on the quality of the first bout, and it would do very well at the box office as a result.

The problem is that the rematch may already be dead in the water.

Floyd Mayweather Jr, who promotes Jack, feels his man was robbed.

“There’s something going on,” he said. “The thing with boxing is, if they [the judges] can’t get it right the first time, they’re not going to get it right the second time. We don’t need the second time around.”

DeGale started the fight strongest, scoring a knockdown at the very start, but had to survive Jack’s late rally and picked himself up off the canvas to hear the final bell in the 12th.

And the Brit disagreed with those claiming Jack was robbed – Mayweather included. DeGale himself felt that Badou scoring the knockdown at the death was what saved his own title.

The 30-year-old told Sky Sports: “He busted my ear drum and I lost my teeth. I thought I’d done enough but it was the knockdown.”

He continued: “I’ve had 25 fights, I’m going to get better, I want the rematch. I’m glad I’m still the champ and I’m coming home with the title but I’m so upset that I didn’t come with the WBC belt.

“The main thing is I didn’t lose, I’m still the champ and I can move forward.”

DeGale has a point: going by what the three appointed judges had, Jack was staring a unanimous decision defeat square in the face until he scored big at the end. Whether or not DeGale deserved to be in that position at that stage is another debate altogether, and one that could easily go on for days with both sides having a case.

And that’s why it’s a shame the decision appears to have jaded Mayweather and Jack on a potential rematch. Perhaps it was just the heat of the moment talking. Maybe they flat-out do not fancy another go-around with DeGale on the basis of how close and taxing the first one was. The other possibility is that Jack honestly wants to move up to light-heavyweight.

Mayweather said of the situation: “Me and Badou Jack, we already communicated. The goal was to fight this fight, then for him to move up to light heavyweight. He’s a big super middleweight.

“How I’m feeling, I don’t really want to come back and fight on the East coast anymore.”

If Jack does not fight DeGale again, the American moving up a weight could be the best scenario for ‘Chunky’.

This is because DeGale had hoped to move onto a domestic superfight with Callum Smith, had he beaten Badou. Smith is the mandatory next-in-line to Jack’s WBC belt, but if Jack vacates to move up, the all-British unification would still be possible.

Though pretty much every boxing fan surely favours another clash between DeGale and Jack before we get to that, based on the quality of Saturday’s fight, it has to be said that both men enhanced their reputations despite not winning.

Regarded by some as ‘good but not great’, the sort of boxers who only win world championships because each weight class has four or five versions, DeGale and Jack showed their underrated prowess and admirable durability and won over a fair amount of non-believers in the process.

A James-Badou rematch and perhaps also DeGale vs Smith – if 2017 gives us even just one of these fights, it’ll be a great overall year for super-middleweight boxing.