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DeGale vs. Jack headed to Barclays Center

DeGale nails Bute with an uppercut. Photo by: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME
Fighters Network
10
Nov

The 168-pound unification match between Badou Jack and James DeGale on Jan. 14 finally has a home.

Barclays Center, which hasn’t hosted a fight since Carl Frampton stunned Leo Santa Cruz on July 30, is set to put on Jack-DeGale on Showtime, multiple sources told RingTV.com on Thursday. A press conference is scheduled for Wednesday at the venue in Brooklyn, New York to make the formal announcement.

DeGale had lobbied for the bout to be staged in his native London but officials decided to put it in New York, apparently hoping a resolution for the new health insurance regulations would be found by then. DeGale has never fought in New York while Badou fought there only once early in his career.

The bout was initially targeted for September but prolonged talks pushed the date into 2017. Jack and DeGale haven’t fought since April 30, when Jack (20-1-2, 12 knockouts) suffered a controversial draw against Lucian Bute and DeGale won a decision against Rogelio Medina on the same Showtime card. (Bute later tested positive for a banned substance.)



DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs) boxed for Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics and won gold at middleweight. He’s the first British boxer to win both Olympic gold and a professional world title; he claimed the vacant IBF super middleweight belt in 2015 against Andre Dirrell. Jack, who now lives in Las Vegas and is promoted by Floyd Mayweather Jr., won a WBC 168-pound title against Andre’s brother, Anthony Dirrell via majority decision a month earlier that same year.

 

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