Badou Jack has a point to prove in the final stretch of his career as he makes his case for the Hall of Fame.

Jack will put his WBC cruiserweight title on the line against Norair Mikaeljan on December 13 at the Ace Mission Studios in Los Angeles. The bout is a rematch of a fight Jack won in May by majority decision. 

Jack, 29-3-3 (17 KOs), is a three-division titleholder, winning belts at super middleweight and light heavyweight before knocking out Ilunga Junior Makabu to win the WBC cruiserweight title in 2023. Jack won his first title in 2015 when he won a majority decision over Anthony Dirrell to win the WBC super middleweight title. Jack holds wins over George Groves and Lucian Bute (originally a draw, but overturned to a disqualification when Bute failed a drug test), while also having high-profile draws with Adonis Stevenson and James DeGale. 

After Terence Crawford Feud, Are Sanctioning Bodies Bad For Boxing?

In today’s episode, the crew breaks down one of boxing’s biggest debates after Terence Crawford went on his Instagram to complain about the WBC. Are sanctioning bodies simply part of the game, or have they completely lost control of the sport? We also take a hard look at the Ring title and ask whether it can still be considered legitimate if champions are not required to defend it.

Thursday | Dec 4, 2025

 “I am not here for the fame or the attention,” Jack, 42, told BoxingScene. “I just fight my ass off in the ring. If people love it, perfect. Hall of Fame or not, my career isn’t finished. I still have some time left, and we will see what happens.”

When asked if he thinks he is a Hall of Famer, Jack was modest but optimistic. 

“I hope so, yeah,” Jack said with a chuckle. “I fought a lot of big names and beat a lot of them, too.”

Jack, billed from Las Vegas, hopes to move on from a slow period. This will be his first defense of the title he won over Mikaeljan, a 35-year-old Armenian living in Miami. 

“To me, I am levels above this guy,” Jack said. “He is making excuses, saying he had three-and-a-half weeks, but I had four-and-a-half weeks, so what is the difference?”

Jack was in camp for Ryan Rozicki before Rozicki suffered an injury and was unable to fight. When Rozicki got injured, Mikaeljan, 27-3 (12 KOs), who held another form of the WBC title, became Jack’s opponent for the fight.

“I want to fight the big fights,” Jack said. “Since he was champion-in-recess, I said, let me fight him.” 

Jack now hopes to move on to unification bouts and the names that cultivate interest.

“Things happen,” Jack said. “But now we are back.”