Whicker: Badou Jack travels long road to super middleweight title

LAS VEGAS — It was another stifling moing in March at Floyd Mayweather’s gym, wedged in between Chinese restaurants in a strip mall.

There is a lot of traffic between the gym and the Vegas Strip, particularly the big boxing rooms where the actors and music moguls gather at ringside, and where they hand out the millions. You can see that world from this one, where Badou Jack was finishing up another workout, as a couple of dozen other guys sparred and sweated and dreamed.

Jack grew up in Sweden and carried Gambia’s flag in the 2008 Olympics. He never fought until he was 18. You can’t imagine a more exotic boxing underdog, but Jack has been in that world, across I-15.

Jack beat George Groves in September at the MGM Grand, just before Mayweather beat Andre Berto. He floored Groves in the first round, brutalized him with body shots down the stretch, and won a split decision to keep his WBC super middleweight title.

“I went back to Sweden in January,” Jack said, in the foyer of the gym. “Now they’re starting to write about me, finally. They even nominated me for the Swedish Athlete of the Year. Some skier guy won it, I think.”

Jack’s year began with a much bigger upset. Anthony Dirrell held the 168-pound title after a win over Sakio Bika. He was unbeaten, had Olympic experience, all of that. Jack was considered a benign opponent, after he was knocked out by Derek Edwards in 2014.

Jack shrugged it off and won a majority decision. He closed strong again and staggered Dirrell with a left-right combo in the ninth. He didn’t win Fighter of the Year, but, at 31 with a 20-1-1 record, he felt like one.

“Getting beat was a blessing because it meant people were overlooking me, and that’s a good thing,” Jack said, smiling.

For a boxer, he’s refreshingly bluster-free, maybe because he knows that he took the back roads to get here, and words don’t help you there.

“I knew Dirrell would come out strong in the first two, three rounds. But I’m good at breaking people down,” Jack said. “Same thing with Groves, even though he was quicker and moved better. I landed 40 percent of my power shots that night. Anybody who wasn’t British or wasn’t a George Groves fan knows that shouldn’t have been just a split decision.”

Jack was set to fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in a possible HBO headliner, but then Chavez injured a heel, or so he said.

“It could be true,” Jack said, smiling again. “Or he might have needed more time to get ready. If we get him in the future, fine. He’s got a big name.”

Jack will now fight Lucien Bute on April 30 in Washington. Bute held the IBF title for five years, but is 36 and has lost to Carl Froch, Jean Pascal and WBC champ James DeGale, who will fight Rogelio Medina on the same night.

If they both win, Jack and DeGale will meet for both belts.

Advertisement

Jack’s odomter is already at six digits after his late start. Jack went to the gym with a buddy one day and took up amateur fighting in Sweden. At night, he was a bouncer.

“Getting into arguments with guys who were drinking, then getting up to work out and run,” he said.

He dominated the Swedish amateurs. “Boxing is not big there —I think Ingemar Johansson was the last guy,” said Jack, speaking of Floyd Patterson’s heavyweight protagonist in the late 1950s.

Jack’s father is from Gambia, his mother from Sweden. To make him proud, Jack carried the flag for Gambia, leading two other Olympians into the Beijing stadium.

“The next moing, I had to make weight at 7 and then fight at noon,” said Jack, who lost his only fight. “But it was a great moment. I went back to Gambia last year, met the president. They love me there.”

When Jack tued pro, he got noticed by Shaon Briggs, the old heavyweight contender, who took him into his Miami home. When Briggs’ promotional career dried up, Jack found himself training in Las Vegas, “on a slave contract. Living in the ghetto, no fuiture.”

He worked out at Mayweather’s gym and sparred with Dirrell’s brother Andre, impressing the Man Himself. Mayweather served a 90-day jail sentence for domestic violence, then gave Jack a contract.

“Floyd saved my career,” Jack said simply. “Will he fight again? You don’t know. Money talks. Especially with him.”

Actually nobody talks like Money. But, two fights from now, you won’t have an excuse for not knowing Jack.