Ilunga Makabu vs Badou Jack is set for February 26th

Unanimous draw, scorecards of 120-120.

 

I may be an idiot for this opinion but I think Badou Jack has a decent chance. In theory he should get destroyed but I think if he shows up anything like his super middle to early LHW days he may have a shot of beating the limited Makabu

 

Badou Jack is finished and has been for a few good years now. Makabu by vicious stoppage.

 

Makabu should have lost to Mchunu. That was a blatant robbery. He also didn't look great against Cieslak in the first half but Cieslak gassed in the heat of Kinshasa (the fight was outdoors). Beating shot guys like Durodola or Kudryashov isn't a big deal. I think Badou Jack is also close to being shot but he's still a decent boxer so i think this will be a close one.

Saudi Arabia favors Jack imo. He's a Muslim and does business stuff over there. Well connected. Wouldn't be shocked if the give him the W if its close.

 

Even gassing, Cieślak probably still did narrowly deserve the nod. And that's factoring in the absolute clown-shoes Congolese antics that were rounds 3 & 4:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/ilunga-makabu-vs-michał-cieślak-rbr.643582/page-6

(the former might have wound up being a TKO3 for Cieślak if they didn't stop the round a minute prematurely; and the fourth ought to have been a 10-9 for him if not for a flagrant rabbit punch by Makabu that got him credited with an official knockdown. That's a three point swing from 10-9 Cieślak to a 10-8 for Makabu, leaving aside that it could have been a DQ4 loss for Makabu, and could have before that already been a TKO3 loss for him)

It was a very screwy match.


I agree regarding Badou Jack, he's close to shot but maybe not all the way, and yes he's skilled, but his chin is a concern. He didn't exactly take a great shot at super middle, and Makabu is a big strong natural cruiser who generally, when he isn't getting robbery decisions, batters people senseless. If he can reach the cards, Jack has a 15-20% chance of getting the judges to go his way (30-35% they go Makabu, and 50% another draw )

 

Makabu one of the worst cruiserweight champions to be holding a belt for three years. Jack shot and very old.

Poor match.

 

Interesting fight. I personally thought both Jack and Makabu should have lost their last fights. Jack is shot to pieces but I think this can go either way.

 

Rooting for Badou.. but he's old af.

 

Jack is too far gone. Not interested in this fight.

 

Pandemic time warp/brain melt is real. I had actually completely forgotten Jack had been campaigning at cruiser for a while. He debuted there in 2020 after the Pascal loss and is 5-0 (4) since. He's still a LHW in my head but his last victory at that limit was over Cleverly, which is somehow insanely almost six years ago.

It also doesn't help that I've on average watched about 10% as much boxing in the last couple of years as in the previous couple of decades.

 

Boy, cruiserweight is a bad division.

When a cruiserweight title fight appears on the undercard of a fight between cruiserweight YouTuber Jake Paul and this generation's Rudy Clay, you know it's a bad division.

What's even worse is Paul could probably face the winner Makabu and Jack ... and win.

It's always been kind of a Clown Car division. I see it's back to its old ways.

With this level of competition passing as title fights, the Bridgerweight division might surpass the cruiserweights by simply not staging title fights?

 

Mack-a-Boo by TKO. Badou is over the hill, and really isnt a CW. He should call it a day.