In a high-energy fight that belied the combatants' ages (36 for Badou Jack, 37 for Jean Pascal), Pascal barely retained his WBA secondary light heavyweight title thanks to a fight fought in two parts.

Pascal (who was ahead 50-44 after five rounds) controlled much of the fight's first half as he started much quicker than usual and scored a fourth-round knockdown.

However, Jack finished the fight strongly, out-landing Pascal 141-76 overall and 134-121 power while scoring a 12th round knockdown to extend his final leads to 244-155 overall, 120-35 jabs and 124-120 power. Jack was also more accurate (39%-28% overall, 34%-13% jabs and 44%-43% power) and he prevailed 10-2 in the round-by-round breakdown of total connects, but Pascal hurt Jack badly at the end of several rounds, probably resulting in his shading those rounds.

Additionally, Jack's 120 landed jabs are the most landed by a Pascal opponent in the 20 Pascal fights counted by CompuBox, breaking the previous high mark of 109 jabs landed by Carl Froch.

The pace was quick (46.3 punches per round by Pascal, 52.7 for Jack), but this verdict, which was roundly booed by the Atlanta crowd, once again showed Jack to be a hard-luck fighter with the judges. Rematch anyone? Scoring: 114-112 (2x) P, 114-112 J.