Badou Jack put George Groves down in the first round on Saturday night on his way to winning a 12-round split decision to retain his super middleweight title.
Jack and Groves put on a spirited fight that was still in doubt when it went to the judges’ scorecards. One judge favored Jack 116-111 and another had it 115-112 in favor of the champion, while the third judge favored Groves 114-113.
The fight was on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr-Andre Berto bout.
Photo: AFP
Jack, a Swede who lives in Las Vegas, dropped Groves with a pair of right hands in the first round, but Groves got up quickly to finish the round.
Groves took the fight to Jack in the middle rounds and the two were trading punches all the way to the bell in the final round.
“I should have gotten the knockout, but I didn’t,” Jack said.
Photo: AFP
Jack was making the first defense of the WBC title he won in April from Anthony Dirrell.
He was favored by the ringside punching stats that showed him landing 210 of 506 punches to 154 of 721 for Groves.
Groves was coming off a two-fight winning streak after dropping two fights in his native England to Carl Froch.
“I thought I won the fight decisively,” Groves said. “Losing a world title fight is the worst feeling in the world.”
In another fight, Orlando Salido attacked Roman Martinez from the opening bell and the two battled to a draw in their junior lightweight title fight.
Salido, who lost a decision to Martinez in April, threw far more punches than Martinez and was the aggressor in the bout, but Martinez landed some hard blows and was sharp when he had punching room on the outside.
One judge favored Martinez 115-113, while another had Salido winning 115-113. The third judge had it 114-114.
CHARLO V BUNDRAGE
AFP, NEW YORK
Undefeated Jermall Charlo wrested the IBF junior middleweight title from 42-year-old Cornelius Bundrage on Saturday, dethroning boxing’s oldest champion by dominating a third-round stoppage in Connecticut.
The 25-year-old Charlo, who improved to 22-0, knocked Bundrage down four times before referee Johnny Callas put an end to the carnage at 2 minutes, 33 seconds of the third round.
“You never put a dog in a pen with a lion,” Charlo said.
Charlo sent fellow American Bundrage to the canvas once in round one, once in round two and twice in the third at Foxwoods Resort and Casino.
Callas had seen enough by the fourth knockdown, waving off the fight without a count.
Bundrage (34-6, 19 knockouts) failed to muster any kind of offense or keep the younger Charlo at bay.
Detroit’s Bundrage was boxing’s oldest current world champion and the oldest junior middleweight world champion in history.
Charlo pressed the attack, taking advantage of his reach advantage to land a sharp overhand for the first knockdown. He dropped the champion in a heap with a straight left in round two and then unloaded on him again with another barrage in the final round.
“I’ve finally made it to the championship status. To be classified as a world champion, it’s history,” Charlo said.
Bundrage landed just 20 of 73 punches as he suffered his second defeat in four fights.
“You win some, you lose some. I was in there with a good fighter, who has been active and is hungry,” Bundrage said.
On the same card, former WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin scored a fifth-round knockout over Australian Michael Zerafa.
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