Recess To Success

By James Blears

WBC Cruiserweight Champion Badou Jack takes on Noel Mikaelian in an intriguing fight on the undercard of Canelo Vs Skull, at the ANB Arena in Riyadh on May 3^rd.

Both have been Champions in Recess. Fate gave Noel his nod and nudge of opportunity, after Ryan Rozicki suffered a bicep injury during sparring, which required surgery. Noel became Champion in Recess, due to contractual problems, which are now resolved. A defence against Ryan fell through three times due to Noel getting cut in sparring, his promoter Don King becoming ill and other untoward circumstances.

Badou also opted for the Recess option. This was in pursuit of the Bridgerweight Belt, which didn’t pan out or the opportunity to contest it. So, he’s moved back to Cruiser and was accepted as Absolute Champion at the World Boxing Council Convention in Hamburg. Now is the chance for both men via their fists, boxing skills, savvy, guile and considerable experience plus welling desire, to conclusively get back into the groove and prove who deserves to wear the Green and Gold Belt.

This weight category refers to battleships which are a tad smaller in tonnage than the behemoths, and as such, are more manoeuvrable yet still have impactful power, possessing big guns punch. Yet within this category there are light cruisers and heavy cruisers.

Badou Jack has grown, evolved and matured into this division. He has been Super-Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Champion, while Noel has solely fought professionally as a cruiserweight. This is his natural poundage and pugilistically his comfort zone.

Both have fought and stopped Ilunga ‘’Junior’’ Makabu. Badou won via TKO in the twelfth, having dropped him in the fourth and the eleventh. That was in February 2023. That same year in November Noel TKO’d Ilunga in round three for the title which was then vacant. Neither Badou or Noel have fought since then. It’s time to get back into action, as a prominent part of the Riyadh Season.

What these two don’t have in common is their age. Noel is thirty- four, yet Badou is forty-one. In past eras, when boxers stacked up so many more fights during gruelling careers, they tended to age more quickly due to wear and tear accumulation.  Badou is primarily a boxer, who has taken care of his body, but Father Time and Mother Nature are unenviable and unavoidable factors. A vintage fighter, he must uncork a nectar of a pungent performance against an opponent who is seven years younger.

Age is most assuredly a factor, but some boxers have successfully held it back for a while. Two of Sonny Liston’s Sisters insisted that he was born one year after the end of World War One, contradicting his rather vague and imprecise guess of 1932. ‘’Ageless’’ Archie Moore whose pro career spanned 1935 to 1963 was fighting well into his forties. He claimed his birth year was 1916, yet his Mum who should know, insisted it was three years earlier. Big George Foreman won back the heavyweight title, aged forty- five twenty years after losing it to Muhammad Ali in Zaire. The Big Men age more slowly and more gracefully?

Badou has fought the cream of the crop in three divisions. His Red -Letter Day came against southpaw Marcus Browne for the WBC Silver Title. Badou emerged from an accidental clash of heads in round seven with a gaping six inches vertical gash. Lesser men would have instructed their corner to throw in the towel and then use it to staunch the profuse bleeding, which spattered the shirt of Referee Tony Weeks transforming it into a gory tapestry. Rightly concerned, he called in the Ring Doctor twice to examine the gaping wound. An iconic photo says it all. You don’t play boxing! Badou lost a UD, but won the hearts of Boxing Fan. Captain Courageous.

Every Man Jack in the vicinity, was impressed by Badou’s memorable and remarkable composure under pressure and steadfastness under fire. Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions said: ‘’I’ve been around Boxing for over forty years and I’ve never seen a cut as bad. It took guts to do what he did.’’

It took one hundred stitches expertly applied by a plastic surgeon to three layers of jaggedly seemingly serrated skin, to close that terrible divot wound. Badou was calm, collected, rye and philosophical about it all, Interjecting; ‘’ I’m a fighter. I ain’t going to quit. I’m a fighter, not a model.’’ Top marks to Cut Maestro Russ Anber for tending to it so brilliantly, in order to keep Badou in the fight, which turned into a bloodbath.

Yet thanks to the expert ministrations of the plastic surgeon, no residual tramline scars remained to re-open as zip fasteners in subsequent boxing bouts. Badou’s pro record is 28-3-3, 17 KO wins. He has notched up 220 rounds. He has only been stopped once, early in his career by Derek Edwards. Caught cold in round one, he was dropped twice before Referee Charlie Fitch moved in to save him to fight another day. The other two losses were to Marcus Browne, when he was almost cut to pieces and by a SD to Jean Pascal in his next fight. Badou has proved himself so brave, resilient and resourceful throughout his career, which started in 2009.

Noel’s debut was two years later. His record is 27-2, 12 KO’s. He has fought 197 pro rounds. His first loss was a highly competitive SD to Krzysztof Wlodarczyk on May 20^th 2017. His second defeat was to former champion Maris Briedis by UD on October 11^th 2018, in the World Boxing Super Series.

Some thought the decision controversial, yet the three Judges, namely: Hubert Minn, Steve Morrow and Benjamin Rendon…highly experienced and of impeccable integrity. Like a true pro, Noel bounced back in his very next fight, defeating Jesse Bryan by UD to win the vacant WBC International Title.

It’s been a long journey for both men. Noel originally comes from Armenia, while Badou is from Sweden. Badou, was sparring with Andre Dirrell, who he subsequently defeated some- time later, for the WBC super-middleweight title. He was spotted by ex-Heavyweight Champion Shannon Briggs, who encouraged him to take the leap across the Big Pond. Ventured and gained. Nothing less!

He defeated Nathan Cleverly via fifth- round TKO for the WBA light heavyweight title and then fought to a MD against formidable WBC Champion Adonis Stevenson. During his career Badou has fought the likes of James DeGale, George Groves, Anthony Dirrell, Marcus Browne and Jean Pascal. Noel has fought Mairis Briedis, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk and Isiah Thomas. Both have stopped Ilunga Makabu.

Like it or not, age is indeed a factor in this one. Hopefully it’ll act as a motivation spur for Badou, but the longer the fight goes on, the more those extra years will be sorely and exactingly tested. Can he turn the clock back or at least hold its ticking hands at bay for the duration of this bout? In the everyday World at this age, we are in our Prime, as Miss Jean Brodie would say. But not so much so in the ring.

The Great Oscar Wilde ruefully observed: ‘’The tragedy of growing old is not that one is old, but one is young.’’ A Genius, but also a dedicated and decadent Bon Vivant, Wilde is NOT a reliable witness concerning Boxing, which takes iron discipline reinforced by the steel and mettle of resolve. He candidly and slothfully declared:

‘’To get back my youth, I’d do anything in the World, except take exercise, get up early or be respectable!’’