Badou Jack: “I believe I have the skills and the heart and I believe I’m gonna beat James Degale!”

Badou Jack is the reigning WBC super middleweight champion who now has defended his world title belt two times. Jack won the belt by defeating Anthony Dirrell last April and most recently retained his title with a controversial draw against former champion, Lucian Bute. With the defense, Badou Jack has now set the stage for a highly anticipated unification bout with IBF champion, James DeGale.

In part 1 of my “On The Ropes” boxing radio interview with Badou Jack, I get his thoughts on the recent Canelo Alvarez vs. Amir Khan bout and his views on where both fighters go next. Jack also talks about his title defense against Lucian Bute and if he believes he should kept up his work rate in the later rounds. Additionally, Badou talks about a unification fight with James DeGale, what kind of fight it will be and where it will take place. Here is what Badou Jack had to say.

Jenna J: I want to get your views on the recent fight between Amir Khan and Canelo Alvarez. What did you think of the match?

Badou Jack: I was there ringside, I was pulling for Khan but I knew he was too small for Canelo, but he did pretty good. Everybody has a plan until they get hit and he got hit.

Jenna J: What did you think of Amir Khan’s game plan?

Badou Jack: He’s very fast, he’s got good movement, he’s a good boxer. I knew he was going to do good the first couple of rounds but I felt he was going to get caught, but anything can happen in boxing. I was rooting for Khan, he showed a lot of heart, he went up two weight classes to fight a strong warrior like Canelo and my hat’s off to him.

Jenna J: Do you think Amir will be able to come back from that devastating knockout?

Badou Jack: I don’t know. He’s got a lot of heart so I don’t think he’s going to retire. He’s been knocked out a couple of times so you never know how he’s going to look, but he’s probably going to fight at 147lbs next time so he’ll be able to take those punches better than Canelo’s. You never know but I wish him all the best though.

Jenna J: Everyone wants to see Canelo fight Gennady Golovkin, do you think that fight will happen?

Badou Jack: I don’t know, I hope so. He said he wanted to fight him, and if you’re the middleweight champion, you should fight the mandatory guy. I fought my mandatory on my defense and I don’t have as much experience as those guys, but yeah he should fight him, that’s what I think.

Jenna J: How do you think the fight would play out?

Badou Jack: I think Golovkin would stop him.

Jenna J: You were in the ring on April 30th and you took on Lucian Bute. How do you feel about the fight ending in a draw?

Badou Jack: Yeah its pretty bad, these judges didn’t have much experience and they did a bad job. It is what it is, it’s not my fault, it’s not Bute’s fault. I still got my belt. I don’t know if they’re going to protest, but I clearly won the fight. We still got the belt and we’re going to fight James DeGale next for the unification fight.

Jenna J: How did you feel about your performance against Bute, were you happy with the things you did?

Badou Jack: Yeah I felt pretty good, I think I boxed well. I lost maybe the last two rounds. I threw two hundred more punches than my last fight, and we were working on throwing more punches. I’m a big guy, I didn’t struggle but had a little bit of problems with the weight but it will be better the next time because my last fight was in September, so I was kind of big but everything is good.

Jenna J: Do you think you let him have the chance to get a draw by letting off the gas a little bit at the end of the fight?

Badou Jack: No, I felt like I won the fight clearly. It was not only that I was tired because everybody knows I’m stronger in the last round than in the first round, more likely I just wanted the fight to be over but I was a little bit tired. It wasn’t like he was dominating me the last two rounds, but if you give him some rounds, it’s the last two rounds because I didn’t do enough.

Jenna J: You will face James DeGale next. What did you think about his performance on the undercard?

Badou Jack: I didn’t see the whole fight but from what I saw, that could have been a draw or even a loss, it could have gone either way. I fought Medina and I know how tough he is, and DeGale doesn’t respect his opponents, he just said, “I’m gonna blow him out in a couple of rounds.” He said the same thing about Bute and that was a closer fight than my fight with Bute. DeGale is a good fighter but that was a close fight.

Jenna J: How do you think a fight between you and James DeGale plays out?

Badou Jack: It would be a tough fight for me, a very tough fight for him too but I believe I have the skills and the heart and I believe I’m gonna beat him.

Jenna J: Where do you want the fight to take place at?

Badou Jack: If it was just only up to me and we get paid the same, of course I want to fight in Vegas so I can have my family here. I got some fans in the UK so it really doesn’t matter, we’ll see.

Jenna J: You don’t mind going into foreign territory to defend your belt?

Badou Jack: As long as the judges are fair. They weren’t fair over here either so you never know. Most likely it’s going to happen in Vegas but you never know, I have to wait and see what Floyd says. But I’m ready to go over there if I have to.