Makabu

Badou Jack stopped Ilunga Makabu with a nasty flurry down the home straight.

Makabu responded well with strong flurries but again Jack poured on the pressure finding a home for his left hook and left uppercut that buckled Makabu’s knees. Lighter on his feet in the sixth, Jack began to make Makabu miss with educated half steps. Makabu responded with well-timed shots to the body. Jack found success with the naked right hand while Makabu landed a thudding jab regularly. At the quarter-way mark, Makabu took his foot off the gas momentarily allowing Jack to get a foothold back in the contest. Jack started the contest well, probing with his jab and backing up the WBC champion with measured straight punches.

Badou Jack caused a mini-upset by stopping Junior Makabu in the final round of a brilliant fight to become the new WBC cruiserweight champion.

Brimming with confidence, Jack went all out to secure an early night as he continued to attack Makabu in the fight’s last stanza. Makabu did have some decent moments in the fight’s second half but his chances of retaining his strap disappeared when he hit the floor again in the bout’s penultimate round. Both fighters started the contest well and enjoyed early successes, but the fight started to go the way of the challenger when he dropped his opponent in the fourth session.

Jack put on a masterful performance to claim the WBC cruiserweight title on Sunday.

The victory was also his sixth straight since a pair of 2019 title defeats at 175 pounds against Marcus Browne and Jean Pascal. Even though Jack held a technical edge and boxed well throughout, his power punching turned out to be the difference late. After scoring knockdowns in Rounds 4 and 11, Jack closed the show in the final round by hurting Makabu with power shots before referee Mark Lyson jumped in at 54 seconds with Makabu pinned to the ropes.

Badou Jack stopped Ilunga Junior Makabu to win the WBC cruiserweight title on the Paul vs Fury undercard.

Simion (23-10, 9 KO) is just a veteran guy who goes and loses between 126 and 140 now, he’s 41 years old, but this was so quick because he did come to fight. Here, Cason (11-0, 8 KO) dropped Jafarov (18-6, 17 KO) once, and Jafarov claimed injury and didn’t come out for round two. Samreen (8-0, 7 KO) is a prospect from Jordan, fighting at 140 lbs, not a blue chipper but has some upside. Martinez (3-2-1, 0 KO) scored a first round knockdown when Almaayouf walked onto a hard right hand, but Almaayouf won the next three rounds fairly clearly to edge it 38-37 on all three cards. (My trainer) told me to box and move. Jack, who also won world titles at 168 and 175 lbs, had questions about how well he’d take proper cruiserweight power, but Makabu was the one struggling to take shots.

Ilungu Makabu put his cruiserweight title on the line against Badou Jack on the Jake Paul-Tommy Fury undercard.

In the 10th, Jack kept making Makabu miss. Jack got the round with better work in the second half. In the 11th, down went Makabu, again, to start the round. In the fifth, Jack didn’t come out too crazy. In this clash of ultra vets, Jack looked ultra sharp, he boxed smartly and well, and finished off Makabu with a flurry in the 12th. Jack had scored knockdowns in the 4th and 11th, and his ring generalship mightily impressed the writer.