Reinstated champion Badou Jack targeting cruiserweight unification
Dec 11, 2024 • 3:39 PM ET
Hamburg – The veteran cruiserweight Badou Jack, reinstated as the WBC champion, is targeting a fight with the winner of the fight expected to take place between Jai Opetaia and Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez in 2025.
Opetaia, the IBF champion, and Ramirez, who holds the WBA and WBO titles, are likely to meet later in the year and Jack, who last fought in February 2023, is hoping he might then face the winner.
He has been in Hamburg, Germany at the WBC Convention to press his claims, and he said:
“I’ve been waiting for like a year-and-a-half to get back into the ring. Boxing politics has kept me away, but I’ve been in the gym. I’ve been ready, I’ve been waiting.”
He has watched Australia’s Opetaia, and he saw highlights of Ramirez recently dethroning Chris Billam-Smith for the WBO title via decision.
“A lot of people are hyping up Opetaia,” said Jack, who stopped Ilunga Makabu in 12 rounds to win the WBC belt. “He’s a good fighter, and I think I’m the only one that called him out. If I have to take care of a mandatory or whatever – then I’m going to do the unification.
“I saw a little bit of that fight [Zurdo-Billam-Smith]. Zurdo looked pretty good. I heard that Opetaia and Zurdo are going to unify. Hopefully I can fight the winner of that.
“Opetaia has not really proven himself other than against [Mairis] Breidis, who’s a good fighter, but you don’t know. Styles make fights. As far as talent, I like the way he [Opetaia] fights. He’s skilful. Zurdo throws a lot of punches. He has a lot of experience too. It’s a good fight. It’s probably 50/50.”
The WBC on Wednesday reinstated Jack as champion, and ordered him to fight Ryan Rozicki. Noel Mikaelyan was made their champion-in-recess. “Now I’m back and ready to unify the division,” Jack posted on social media.
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
