Last night’s Premier Boxing Champions show on Spike TV saw super middleweight Badou Jack defeat Anthony Dirrell for the WBC World Super Middleweight title. Heading into the fight, Dirrell was a solid -550 favorite, with Jack returning at +425, as Dirrell had won the world title in his last outing against Sakio Bika and this fight was considered his showcase before moving on to potential bigger money fights.
But Jack bought an energy and aggression that showed itself at the weigh-ins, where both men almost came to blows. Jack fought the most focused twelve rounds of his career and in the end, the judges gave him a majority decision (114-114. 116-112, 115-113) and a world title. Not a bad day’s work for Jack, who counts himself a member of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s The Money Team.
Also on the Spike broadcast, WBA world middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs shined in his match with Caleb Truax. Jacobs was more than a -1000 favorite for this one, and this “showcase” for a world champion went a little more according to form, as Truax was never really able to put together any consistent offense. Jacobs was able to land a hard shot in the final round that sent Truax back into the ropes for a count, and when the fight resumed he closed in and finished the job on Truax, who appeared hurt from the first shot.
The Spike TV broadcast opened with an eight-round bout featuring Roberto”La Amenaza” Garcia in a bout against James Stevenson. Garcia is a welterweight with a 36-3 record heading into this one, but he was demoted to an eight rounder after failing to make his weight for a fight with Shawn Porter back in March and no-showing the weigh-ins. In this one, Garcia showed both his strengths and weaknesses, as he started slow and appeared to be plodding and easy to hit as Stevenson logged several rounds early. Garcia showed his toughness, even smiling at one point after a body shot, and he worked the body with bludgeoning shots that took all the starch out of Stevenson. In the end, it was Garica, who was a -1500 favorite heading into the fight, took the unanimous decision win, moving his record to 37-3.
