Jack vs Bute results: Badou Jack retains belt on disputed majority draw

Badou Jack appeared to have done enough early to make a late rally by Lucian Bute seem like too little, too late, but two of the three ringside judges saw the fight differently, and Jack retained his WBC super middleweight title via an unsatisfying and controversial majority draw.

Judge Stephen Rados of Maryland scored the fight 117-111 for Jack, while judges Glen Crocker of Texas and Omar Mintun Sr of Mexico both had it even, 114-114. BLH had the fight 116-112 in favor of Badou Jack.

Jack (20-1-2, 12 KO) did a lot of good work to the body, especially in the earlier rounds, outlanding Bute 107-23 in body shots over the course of the fight. He also dictated some rounds with his jab, and was able to keep Bute (32-3-1, 25 KO) from establishing a rhythm on offense, constantly forcing the Romanian-Canadian veteran to push the reset button.

The last three rounds, though, saw Bute up his output and look to get some serious work done, and we did give him rounds 10-12 on our card, as he was effective, found a home for his left hand, and was able to outwork Jack for the first time in the fight.

The decision, while leaving a bad taste in most mouths, does not derail the plans for Jack to face James DeGale in a title unification bout this fall, however. DeGale defeated Rogelio Medina in a tough fight on tonight's card to retain his IBF belt. Bute says he'd like to rematch both of them, and declined to say which was the better fighter, saying it would be a 50-50 matchup.

How did you score the fight?