Mayweather-McGregor undercard recap: Badou Jack demolishes Nathan Cleverly to win light heavyweight belt
Fighting on the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor undercard, Jack made a statement against an experienced veteran two-time titleholder with a tremendous performance.
"I wanted to box him and feel him out while establishing my jab. Then the plan was to break him down from there. The plan was to finish him," Jack said. "I got a little excited at times but I barely got hit. My boxing IQ was the difference in this fight. Everybody doubting me motivated me. My trainer and my team did a great job getting me to this point. It's a dream come true."
Jack got off to a good start as he found Cleverly early and often with clean punches in the opening round and never really let up.
Jack (21-1-3, 13 KOs) had a huge fourth round as he lashed Cleverly with numerous clean left hands and also connected with a solid right hand. Cleverly had nothing to offer in the return and by time the round ended Cleverly looked spent and his face was a bloody mess.
In the fifth round he trapped Cleverly near the ropes and fired punches with both hands, causing Cleverly (30-4, 16 KOs), 30, of Wales, to cover up and throw only desperation shots.
Jack, 33, a Sweden native fighting out of Las Vegas, where he trains with Mayweather, continued to pound Cleverly in the fifth, landing a hard right hand and an uppercut before referee Tony Weeks had seen enough and stepped in at 2 minutes, 47 seconds.
"You can't leave it in the hands of the judges. You've got to go for the kill," Jack said. "I think [world champion] Adonis Stevenson [is next]. Let's get it on. Unless you [Stevenson] want a trilogy with Andrzej Fonfara, let's get it on. Let's fight somebody real. I'd go anywhere."
Jack was fighting for the first time since a majority draw in a January super middleweight world title unification fight with James DeGale. Shortly after the action-packed fight Jack vacated his 168-pound belt and announced he would move up to the 175-pound division.
Cleverly was making the first defense of the belt he won last October when he stopped Juergen Braehmer in the sixth round on Braehmer's turf in Germany.
"Jack was very strong. He caught me and broke my nose in the third round," Cleverly said. "It was a downward spiral from there. I was wounded and protecting myself. It's horrible but part of the sport. I thought the stoppage was premature. He had just swung and missed but it's up to the referee in the end. I have to respect that decision.
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