WASHINGTON ? At 36, former champion Lucian Bute still has the skills, but has maybe lost a step or two.
What he hasn?t lost is the heart. And he used that heart to win the last two rounds and gain a majority draw against WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack.
Judge Stephan Rados scored it 117-111 for Jack, but Omar Mintun and Glen Crocker both scored it a draw. USA TODAY/Boxing Junkie scored it 115-113 for Jack.
Jack retains his title with the draw and said he would fight the UK?s James DeGale next to unify the 168-pound titles. DeGale won a unanimous decision against Rogelio Medina in the co-feature to retain his IBF title and said he thought Jack defeated Bute, as DeGale did in his last fight.
?It was a close fight, but Jack won it,? the British champion said. ?Let?s do it. Let?s unify the decision and see who the best is.?
Jack was not happy with the majority draw, to say the least.
?Bull?-. It is what it is. Ask Bute as well, he knows what time it is,? Jack said. ?His punches weren?t hurting me. I feel I won the fight. Maybe I lost the last round. He?s a great guy and a great champion, but I know I won the fight.
?It?s not Bute?s fault, it?s the judges. People saw I won the fight.?
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Jack?s promoter, Floyd Mayweather Jr., who attended the fight, said his fighter got unfairly jobbed by the judges.
?We want to be treated fair,? Mayweather said. ?We need to get some new judges because this is not right for the sport of boxing.?
Jack landed nearly 100 punches more than Bute, 278-179, and connected on 40% of his punches, compared to Bute?s 21%, according to CompuBox stats.
With the crowd of 4,135 chanting his name, Bute (32-3-1, 25 KOs) came out strong and won three of the first four rounds on USA TODAY Sports? scorecard. But by the middle rounds, Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs) began to take control, landing body shots at will and appearing quicker to the punch as Bute began to lose steam on his punches. Jack blocked many of those punches as well.
Jack was making his second title defense after a breakthrough campaign in 2015 in which he won the WBC belt from Anthony Dirrell and successfully defended against George Groves.
The southpaw Bute, a former IBF champion with nine defenses between 2007 and 2012, revived his career last November with a gutsy and inspired performance against DeGale.
?It was a close fight. Believe me, it was very close fight,? the Canadian, whow as born on Romania, said. ?My last fight with DeGale was very close, tonight was a very close fight. I showed everyone I?m still at the top.?
