Rival super-middleweight champions James De Gale and Badou Jack want to fight one another in a unification clash, and the plan is for the two 168-pounders to meet later this year. But first the two will co-headline a Showtime card on April 30th. Southpaw DeGale will face Rogelio Medina, 36-6(30) while Jack will face what looks like a far stiffer challenge in former champ Lucian Bute, 32-3(25).
Bute, also a southpaw and a former long-reigning IBF super-middleweight champion, gave DeGale hell in his last fight back in November, losing via decision. That performance suggests Bute, who many feared was all but finished after his devastating stoppage loss to British warrior Carl Froch, is anything but done. Jack, 20-1-1, may well have the toughest test of his career at the end of the month. Aside from that shock/fluke stoppage loss to Derek Edwards when Jack was caught cold, the WBC ruler has looked a class act. But Bute wants to rule again and he enters this fight as a very live challenger/slight underdog.
DeGale, 22-1(14) – the sole loss coming in a very tight decision loss to George Groves – should on paper do away with Medina with relative ease. The Mexican challenger can punch, as his 30 KO’s show, but the man known as “Porky” has been stopped three times (including a TKO loss to Jack) and in DeGale he is meeting an in-his-prime world champion who is in no mood to lose what he has worked so hard for. DeGale, who has travelled well during his career, showed his toughness in the Bute fight and even if Medina does get home with a shot, the former Olympian should be able to handle it.
If all goes well on April 30th, the card will be very much a showcase for the two defending champions as they get ready to meet each other later this year. Bute will have plenty to say about this, and Medina will almost certainly come out looking to throw bombs. But the formbook will likely be obeyed in the two fights, even if Jack might have a tough one.
As to who wins when/if DeGale and Jack eventually meet, that’s a tough one as well. But in the meantime, look for DeGale to win by late stoppage and Jack to prevail via close decision in another exciting fight.
