That’s all for now. Thanks as always for following along with us and be sure to check out our fight report below:
Updated
Here’s at look at the official scorecard.
Updated
It's a majority draw! Both DeGale and Jack retain their belts!
There will be no unification of the titles tonight! Glenn Feldman scores it 114-112 to DeGale, but Julie Lederman and Steve Weisfeld both had it 113-113 and it’s a majority draw. Both fighters will keep their belts.
Round 12
It’s all comes down to this round. And down goes DeGale in a pile, a massive hook from Jack did it! Oh dear! He down for the first time in his career and he’s in serious trouble! He beats the count but Jack rushes in to finish him off. Can he make it out of the round? He’s taking an awful lot of punishment and can’t wrap up! DeGale in serious trouble! But he’s found his footing and he strikes back at the end of the round, landing a few shots of his own to finish the fight on his feet! The Guardian has scored it a 113-113 draw but we’ll see what the judges say!
Guardian’s unofficial score: Jack 10-8 DeGale (Jack 113-113 DeGale)
Round 11
Both men digging so deep here. DeGale throwing more punches but Jack doing the more effective work. A terrific, competitive fight. One more round.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Jack 10-9 DeGale (Jack 103-105 DeGale)
Round 10
DeGale loading up on his punches early in the 10th, but Jack showing patience and poise. He’s really come into the fight nicely and even though he trails on our card, he seems to be in the driver’s seat. DeGale still moving nicely but even when he connects, the punches don’t seem to bother Jack, who keeps moving forward. Oh dear. Another very narrow round. I’m tipping it to Jack, who was the busier fighter over the final half. But these scores will be all over the map.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Jack 10-9 DeGale (Jack 93-96 DeGale)
Round 9
DeGale needed to stem the tide of Jack’s rally and he does it, coming back strong in the ninth and nicking a very close round. A number of observers at ringside are reporting that DeGale lost a tooth when he lost his mouthpiece in the eighth round. Brutal trade, this.
Did degeale lose a tooth!? This is a great fight holy smokes!
— Daniel Jacobs (@DanielJacobsTKO) January 15, 2017
Guardian’s unofficial score: Jack 9-10 DeGale (Jack 83-87 DeGale)
Round 8
DeGale, who had measured distance so well in the opening rounds, miscalculates as Jack connects with a lunging right hand over the top that rocks the Englishman. He’s hurt! DeGale now in retreat is Jack looks to follow up. A huge eighth round for Jack! Both fighters really giving it their all here but it’s Jack who’s come on stronger in the middle rounds as the fight veers into the final act.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Jack 10-9 DeGale (Jack 74-77 DeGale)
Round 7
It’s another highly entertaining action round between the fighters. DeGale is stepping in the pocket and slugging with Jack but it doesn’t seem like the punches are having much effect. At one point DeGale cracks him with a left uppercut flush but Jack seems to walk right through it. Jack landing plenty of shots of his own. This round really could go either way and it’s not the first, which means the scoring could be all over the map if the fight goes to the judges.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Jack 9-10 DeGale (Jack 64-68 DeGale)
Round 6
Jack traps DeGale against the ropes and unloads upstairs, but DeGale’s manages to avoid nearly ever blow with excellent head movement. Now Jack hurts DeGale to the body! And he’s hurt him again! DeGale appears in trouble! He makes it out of the round but it’s a big round for Jack, who’s back in the fight.
.@BadouJack gets @jamesdegale1 on the ropes at the end of round 6. #JackDeGale #Boxing pic.twitter.com/k66ksD35z3
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) January 15, 2017
Guardian’s unofficial score: Jack 10-9 DeGale (Jack 55-58 DeGale)
Updated
Round 5
Jack finally connects with a series of punches upstairs, his best shots of the fight. But DeGale continues to box masterfully. At one point he peppers Jack with an exquisite up-down-up-down combination. Good two-way action here. Jack badly needed a positive round and he gets one. Then he accidentaly clips referee Arthur Mercante Jr with a punch as the bell rings to the horror of the crowd. But the ref is OK! Phew.
All good here. #JackDeGale #Boxing pic.twitter.com/ntx9MxCtI2
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) January 15, 2017
Guardian’s unofficial score: Jack 10-9 DeGale (Jack 45-49 DeGale)
Updated
Round 4
More in-and-out movement from DeGale in the fourth, who is making Jack look more and more flat-footed as the fight progresses. It’s unclear if the Swede has landed a single significant punch so far. DeGale gliding around the ring and making it look effortless. It’s an easy round to score from DeGale and Jack will need something special, and soon, to keep DeGale from running away with this one.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Jack 9-10 DeGale (Jack 35-40 DeGale)
Round 3
Jack’s promoter, Floyd Mayweather Jr, is on his feet at ringside urging his charge on, but he can’t seem to find the slippery DeGale. The Englishman is continues to score with the straight left, circling to his left to stay away from Jack’s jab. Jack enjoys some of his best moments of the fight near the end of the round but it’s an easy DeGale round and he’s pitching a shutout through three rounds.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Jack 9-10 DeGale (Jack 26-30 DeGale)
Updated
Round 2
DeGale looked more comfortable in the second round. He’s continuing to stick to the outside with deft footwork, using angles masterfully to take away Jack’s jab and using his hand speed to score. Another round for the Londoner.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Jack 9-10 DeGale (Jack 17-20 DeGale)
Round 1
The orthodox Jack and southpaw DeGale present mirror images as they feel one another out in the opening stages of the first round. Not too many landed punches for either man, but Jack doing a better job staying out of mid-range and frustrating Jack. Near the end of the round DeGale lunges forward and splits the jab with the straight left to catch the Swede off balance and down goes Jack! A bit of a flash knockdown but it will cost Jack a point.
.@jamesdegale1 sends @BadouJack to the canvas in round 1 of their title unification bout. #JackDeGale #Boxing pic.twitter.com/r6BBjWWjKd
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) January 15, 2017
Guardian’s unofficial score: Jack 8-10 DeGale (Jack 8-10 DeGale)
Updated
The fighters have touched gloves and seconds are out. We’ll pick it up with round-by-round commentary from here!
Jack makes his ringwalk first accompanied by the rapper Papoose performing Born to Win, which is ... something. Next it’s DeGale, who walks out to Right Above It by Lil Wayne featuring Drake.
DeGale and Jack should be making their way to the ring any minute now. Here’s one last look at our report off yesterday’s weigh-ins.
James DeGale’s road show is coming to an end and the IBF super-middleweight world champion is ready to finish the tour in style.
The southpaw known as Chunky bounced on to the stage at the Barclays Center wearing a red bobble cap, black sweatsuit and wide smile, before stripping down and tipping the scales at 166½lbs for Saturday’s title unification fight with Badou Jack, who came in just below the division limit at 167¼lbs.
The fighters came together for the traditional staredown before they were gently separated after 20 seconds by Floyd Mayweather Jr, who promotes Jack. The near mirror images underscored how little separates the fighters physically.
DeGale, who holds the IBF’s version of the 168lb title, will be making a fourth straight outing on foreign soil when he climbs in with Jack, the WBC champion. The first came in 2015, when he outpointed Andre Dirrell in Boston and became the first British fighter to follow up an Olympic gold medal with a world championship in the paid ranks. That was followed by convincing points wins over Lucian Bute in Quebec and Rogelio Medina in Washington DC in the past 14 months.
Now the 30-year-old from London will fight for the first time in New York with the opportunity to emerge as the biggest name in the division, setting the stage for an outdoor homecoming fight in the spring.
“It’s a dream,” DeGale said. “It’s a big city, it’s a boxing city. A lot of greats from England have fought in New York. I remember when Naseem Hamed fought at Madison Square Garden against Kevin Kelley and knocked him out. I’m living the dream.”
“I am OK,” Pedraza said afterward. “My strategy was to fight him from a distance and try to fight him inside to lose some of the power and it didn’t work that way.
“At the end, I was trying to put on too much pressure and it didn’t work. There was a moment that I adjusted to the game plan and something was telling me to come out and fight him and it didn’t work.
“There is no excuse, I was at 135lbs and coming down to accept the fight wasn’t the right move.”
“It felt great to go in there in front of my fans and take boxing more seriously,” said Davis in an in-ring interview. “It means a lot (to win this world title). I put in hard work. My team put in hard work. We came out on top. I have a great promoter and a great boxer backing me and it felt great.
“I had experience. I told you all that. In this camp I studied Pretty Boy Floyd. Just to stay composed. He caught me with a lot of good shots. I took it and I dished it back out. That’s how you know I’m a real dog.”
Added Mayweather: “For this training camp, I didn’t want to be around him. I didn’t want to talk to him. I wanted him to focus so he could out there and be the best and that’s what he did tonight. Is this the future of boxing? Abso-fucking-lutely.”
Actually, we’re informed Davis is not the youngest active world champion in boxing today. That would be WBO junior-flyweight titleholder Kosei Tanaka, who is still 21.
Gervonta Davis wins by seventh-round TKO!
After the ringside doctor took a long time examining if Pedraza was fit to continue, the bell rang for the seventh and Davis continued to unload on his Puerto Rican opponent. Finally as referee Ricky Gonzalez inched in as if to intervene, Davis connected with an enormous right hand that nearly knocked Pedraza through the ropes. Gonzalez waved it off before he could make it to his feet, giving Davis a TKO victory at the 2:36 mark.
The 22-year-old from Baltimore is now the youngest current world champion in boxing.
Pedraza nicked the fourth on our card, but then came back even stronger in the first half of the fifth as he finally let his hands go. By then it was was Davis who had retreated into a shell, taking reams of uninterrupted shots from the champion. But then Davis from nowhere came back with a straight right that snapped Pedraza’s neck back, following it up with more power shots upstairs. The two-way action has brought the crowd to their feet! Both men fought at a slower pace in the sixth until Davis caved in Pedraza’s stomach with a devastating body shot that he somehow managed to absorb upright. After six rounds we’ve got it 58-56 to Davis, who is clearly facing the stiffest test of his young career so far.
An interesting fight has unfolded between Pedraza and Davis after three rounds. Both men came out firing from the opening bell but it was Davis who pushed the pace and got the better of the exchanges. He connected flush with a series of hooks and uppercuts, though Pedraza took them well.
Pedraza appeared to physically tire near the end of the second round, retreating into a shell defense as Davis landed a blows on the inside. The Puerto Rican enjoyed spells of success when he was able to maintain distance, but Davis constantly looked to close and fight on the inside.
But Pedraza, while leaving himself open to the Davis uppercut, doesn’t seem too hurt by Davis’ punches. That could change, mind. But right now he looks like the physically stronger fighter even if Davis has raced out to a 30-27 lead on the Guardian’s unofficial card.
One more fight before the main event as Gervonta Davis challenges for Jose Pedraza’s IBF junior lightweight title. The big-punching 22-year-old Davis (16-0, 15 KOs) is one of the brightest prospects in Floyd Mayweather’s stable, even if he’s relatively new to the world class. The central question is whether the chin of the taller, longer Pedraza (22-0, 12 KOs) can hold up long enough to take the younger challenger into deep waters.
Julian Sosa has won a dull affair in somewhat controversial fashion over Gabriel Solario. The Brooklyn prospect won a six-round decision to improve to 7-0-1, though many at ringside dissented with the verdict.
Meanwhile, Amanda Serrano has spoken after her unanimous-decision win over Yazin Rivas.
“We knew she was going to come to fight,” Serrano said. “She’s a Mexican fighter who’s very tough and experienced. I had to show her my power and my skills.
“She’s definitely a really good fighter. I was glad to get 10-rounds in and I hope the fans enjoyed the fight.
“We wanted the knockout but I was ready for 10-rounds. People who think I’m just a brawler saw that I’m a great boxer today.”
Serrano, who has won major world titles at junior featherweight, featherweight, junior lightweight and lightweight, said she wants to drop to 118lbs and go for a belt in a fifth division.
“I want to fight other champions,” she said. “My goal is to be the first Puerto Rican to hold world titles in five weight classes.”
Amanda Serrano wins again! The Brooklyn native has defended her WBO female junior featherweight title with a 10-round unanimous decision over Mexico’s Yazin Rivas in the first nationally televised women’s world title bout in eight years. The three ringside judges turned it scores of 97-93, 98-92 and 99-91. (The Guardian had it 98-92.)
Next up: a six-round welterweight fight between Brooklyn prospect Julian Sosa and Gabriel Solario.
Hello and welcome to tonight’s super middleweight title unification fight between James DeGale and Badou Jack. It’s a snowy night in Brooklyn but we’ve just finished watching a scintillating undercard tilt between undefeated prospects Immanuwel Aleem and Ievgen Khytrov, one certain to rate among the fight of the year candidates when the dust clears.
Aleem (17-0-1, 10 KO) hurt Khytrov badly in the first round then dropped him in the third and sixth, when the referee called a stop to it at the 1:20 mark.
The middleweight thriller was filled with two-way action that regularly brought the crowd to its feel. It’s the first loss for Khytrov (14-1, 12 KO), the fancied middleweight comer from Ukraine.
We’ve got three more prelims before the main event, which should go off around 10.30pm local time.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime you can read his report from Friday’s weigh-in.
