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James DeGale and Badou Jack will open boxing’s new year with an exciting match-up on January 14th, 2017. The two fighters are set to unify boxing’s super middleweight titles at the Barclays Center in New York.
Title Unification Bout
Englishman DeGale has been on a roll, winning his last 13 bouts and capturing the IBF super middleweight title along the way. After beating Andre Dirrell to win that belt, DeGale has successfully defended it twice and now he’s setting his sights on Badou Jack’s WBC crown and the vacant Ring Super Middleweight title.
Jack has won four of his last five bouts but is coming off a majority draw against Lucian Bute last April. Like DeGale, he’s defended his WBC super middleweight title twice already. Half of Captain Jack’s last 14 victories have been by knockout, although his last three bouts against top level competition have been close.
This will be DeGale’s first bout in New York and Jack’s third in the Big Apple.
Strengths
Jack’s a well-rounded fighter who has a good jab but has a tendency to lunge forward when he punches. He’s tough to beat, especially when he gets his offense going early. But he may have a problem against Chunky.
DeGale is an aggressive boxer who’s good in cutting off the ring. He wears his opponent down with smart boxing and respectable power in his punches. DeGale has established himself as one of the best super middleweights in the world, if not the best. Although his record says he has one loss, that one was a debatable majority decision against George Groves in 2011.
More Complete Fighter
The oddsmakers like DeGale in this matchup and currently have him as a -300 favorite over Jack who is now at +250. The reason is DeGale is a more complete fighter than Jack. Aside from his more superior arsenal, DeGale is a very high IQ fighter who hasn’t shown too many weaknesses yet.
Compared to Jack, Chunky has been the more consistent fighter. Jack hasn’t won a clear fight since beating Francisco Sierra in 2014. His last three bouts against Anthony Dirrell, George Groves and Lucian Bute have ended in majority decision win, split decision win and split draw respectively. On the other hand, DeGale has stopped 14 of 23 opponents. His last three wins though have been by UD and considering Jack is no walk in the park, this one should be another 12 round win for James DeGale.
