Former two division world champion Badou Jack will return to action on November 28th at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The veteran boxer will face Blake McKernan as part of the pay-per-view undercard to the heavyweight showdown between former world champions Mike Tyson and Roy Jones.
According to Jack, his next ring appearance was originally pitched as a different kind of encounter.
The event organizers had proposed the idea of having Jack face mixed martial arts legend Tito Ortiz - under traditional boxing rules.
Jack indicates that while he accepted the fight on his side - Ortiz was not as willing and also wanted a significant sum of money.
“At first, they were talking about me doing an exhibition boxing match against Tito Ortiz. I was like yeah sure and Ortiz wanted too much money and he didn’t want to fight me so it was scratched. Or, at least that is what I heard. It makes no sense to cut weight for an exhibition, so we then decided to find a cruiserweight and dedicated it to the charity and they found this guy," Jack revealed on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com.
Jack also didn't like the idea of facing Ortiz - unless it was an exhibition.
He felt the contest would have been unfair if he fought Ortiz in a sanctioned boxing match. Ortiz, 45-years-old, has no boxing experience.
If enough money was on the table, Jack would entertain the idea of a fully sanctioned boxing match against a "huge" name in MMA.
“That was mostly just talks. He is a little older and is retired so I’m not sure what happened,” Jack explained. “I don’t follow MMA and then they said it would be a real fight. I can’t fight an MMA fighter in a boxing match. Unless it is big money. Unless it a huge name and a big money fight then it makes sense. Why would I fight an MMA guy? That is not fair.”