Consider the last seven opponents that former super middleweight champ Badou Jack has faced: Anthony Dirrell, George Groves, Lucian Bute, James DeGale, Nathan Cleverly, Adonis Stevenson and Marcus Browne.
Who faces a gauntlet like that in this day and age? Precious few.
Indeed, if any fighter deserves an easy opponent, it’s Jack. So who will the 36-year-old Swede fight on the Gervonta Davis-Yuriorkis Gamboa card Dec. 28 in Atlanta on Showtime? Jean Pascal, another tough veteran coming off an upset victory over Browne in August.
It never ends.
“I’m getting older,” Jack said on The PBC Podcast. “I might deserve a tune-up fight. When I fight better opposition, I step up my game more, I fight better. My first loss … I fought a journeyman (Derek Edwards). I wasn’t really 100 percent. And that’s when accidents happen. … I fight my best when I fight top guys.”
Jack (22-2-3, 13 KOs) fought a top guy last January, Browne, who won a wide decision at least in part because of a gruesome cut in the middle of Jack’s forehead – the result of an accidental head butt in the seventh round – that bled profusely.
Jack fought hard the remainder of the fight but, having fallen behind in the early rounds, he couldn’t make up the lost ground.
“I should’ve won that fight,” Jack said. “… He’s a front runner. He always looks good in the beginning. He’s fast, athletic. I break you down. Usually I’m better in the later rounds. He won some of the early rounds. I won maybe one round or two before the cut. And then I got the cut. I couldn’t even see for six, seven rounds. He still couldn’t do nothing.
“It’s in the past, a learning experience. I shouldn’t have lost that fight, though. It is what it is.”
Of course, Jack went into the fight with the reputation of being a tough guy – remember that gauntlet – but he enhanced his image with his determination to persevere through one of the worst gashes in recent memory.
“It’s crazy, people giving me … more credit for that fight than any of my good wins,” he said. “And that was my worst fight in my pro career. Just because I showed heart and kept fighting with that cut.
“That’s something you can’t teach. You’re either a fighter, you’re either born with it or not.”
Jack certainly remains a fighter, even in his mid-30s. He said he doesn’t feel a sense of urgency in spite of his age. The cut has healed well, he said. In fact, doctors cleared him to fight a few months after the Browne fight.
And he said he feels as if he’s back on track after the setback. He’s confident going into the fight with Pascal (34-6-1, 20 KOs).
“I don’t feel no pressure,” he said. “… I still feel young. Even though (Jean Pascal) is only a year older than me, he’s been a pro longer than me. I have only 10 year in the pro game and 26, 27 fights, whatever I’ve got. I don’t feel no pressure. But I definitely need to win this fight, of course.”
Jack has begun to think about the legacy he will leave. He held a major 168-pound title from 2015 to 2017 and won what the WBA calls its “regular” 175-pound title in 2017. Boxing Junkie doesn’t recognize that belt.
“I want to define my legacy,” Jack said. “I feel good. I feel good in the gym. I felt like s—t in my last fight because of some mistakes that happened in camp and this thing with (Adonis) Stevenson happened right before I started camp. I don’t want to make excuses.
“Right now, I feel great in the gym. As far as running, rounds, letting my hands go … I’m doing great numbers. On fight night we’ll see what happens. I’d love to become a three-division world champion.”
Evidently, more tough opponents lie ahead.