WBC: Jack vs. DeGale Winner Must Fight Callum Smith Next

By Keith Idec

James DeGale and Badou Jack mentioned numerous names in Brooklyn last month when asked who they’d like to fight after their January 14 showdown at Barclays Center.

Callum Smith never came up.

Nevertheless, according to the Los Angeles Times’ Lance Pugmire, the WBC announced during its convention Wednesday morning that the DeGale-Jack winner must make a mandatory defense of the WBC super middleweight title against England’s Smith in his following fight. As part of the mandate, the WBC announced negotiations for a bout between the DeGale-Jack winner and Smith must commence January 16, two days after they square off in a “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event.

Las Vegas’ Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs) owns the WBC world 168-pound championship. London’s DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs) is the IBF super middleweight champion.

The winner of their title unification fight could give up the WBC title if he decides to purse a more lucrative opportunity than facing Smith. A DeGale-Smith match would be an attraction in England, though, and DeGale has said that after the Jack fight, his fourth straight in either the United States or Canada, he would like to return to his homeland to fight.

Liverpool’s Smith (22-0, 17 KOs) is the WBC’s No. 1 contender at 168 pounds, owns the WBC Silver super middleweight title and has been very active this year.

Smith’s 10th-round stoppage of fellow Brit Luke Blackledge (22-3-2, 7 KOs) on Saturday marked Smith’s fourth fight since April 2. The 26-year-old contender won each of those four fights by technical knockout, though none came against Top 15-caliber opponents.

The 33-year-old Jack, a native of Stockholm, Sweden, hasn’t boxed since settling for a majority draw with former super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (32-3-1, 25 KOs) on April 30 in Washington, D.C. He has fought just twice since winning the title by out-pointing Anthony Dirrell (29-1-1, 23 KOs) by majority decision in April 2015 in Chicago.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.