Badou Jack’s bad luck with decisions continued on Saturday night, as he could only leave the Air Canada Center in Toronto with a majority draw against Adonis Stevenson.
This marked the third draw of The Ripper’s professional career, following on from a majority draw against Marco Antonio Periban followed by a similar result last year against James DeGale in New York.
CONTROVERSIAL DRAW
In what proved to be a competitive bout, Stevenson certainly outpointed Jack in the early rounds by being a lot more active. However, Jack finished the aggressor from the middle rounds by remaining more active and a lot more accurate. Despite the stronger finish, one judge scored the fight 115-113 in favour of Jack while two judges ended up scoring the contest 114-114.
As expected, both men thought they did enough to leave with the win and the title. Now, Jack’s promoted Floyd Mayweather has spoken out against the judges, suspecting that two judges were swayed by what Stevenson did in short spurts, compared to what little he did over the course of the full rounds.
According to Boxing Scene, he said: “He gave the first three rounds away. I’m just speaking honest. One thing with me, I have to be honest with these fighters today. He gave the first three rounds away. But then, after that, picked up the pace. Combinations, right hands, left hooks, body shots. And then, the 11th round – even though Adonis Stevenson did win, they gave him the 11th round. But he landed a good body shot towards the end, I think the last 30 seconds of the 10th round. Then the 11th round, he came out strong for one minute.
SHORT SPURTS
“So a lot of time, what we do as judges, we have to look at all three minutes of the round. Sometimes we just look at 30 seconds of the round, whereas that’s I’m trying to say, a lot of times we’re not doing our homework, we’re slacking. Even like the writers and the spectators, we only remember the last 30 seconds or the last 20 seconds.
"Well, remembering the last 30 seconds, what about two minutes and 30 seconds, before the last 30 seconds?
“I feel that Adonis Stevenson won the first three rounds, clearly. But then, around the fourth round, it started taking a toll. So, and then he came back on and he won I think around the fifth. So if I called the fight, I would call the fight a 7-5, you know, leaning towards Badou. And it’s not me being biased. In the 11th round, [Stevenson] came on strong. But also, he came on strong in the first minute of the 11th round. But then, two minutes in the 11th round, he gave away.
“Like I said before, with the judges, a lot of times what we have to start watching is the whole round,” Mayweather said. “Sometimes a guy can come on. ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard was one of the masters of doing that. In the last 30 seconds, he’d throw a flurry and steal a round. It was a smart move, though. What we have to stop watching is what we tend to watch. It’s just when a guy do something good in a round, instead of watching the whole round.”
With both men keen on a rematch with the US, Canada and Dubai as potential venues, there is bound to be even more attention on the judging of the potential fight.
What do you make of Floyd Mayweather’s thoughts on the judging during Badou Jack’s draw with Adonis Stevenson? Have YOUR say in the comments section below.