Jack vs Mikaelian Predictions: No joy for Noel as Jack goes on the attack

WBC cruiserweight kingpin Badou Jack goes back in with former champion Noel Mikaelian this Saturday, December 13. The world title clash takes place at Ace Mission Studios in Los Angeles. Amazon Prime PPV will broadcast the event live.

Read on for rematch reflections and my Jack vs Mikaelian predictions.

Jack vs Mikaelian Odds

Jack is the 7/5 underdog despite winning the first fight. Mikaelian is favoured at 8/13 while the draw is 14/1.

Jack vs Mikaelian Fight Preview

Jack is the second-oldest active world champion in boxing, with fellow 42-year-old WBA middleweight king Erislandy Lara six months older. This year saw the 10th anniversary of Jack’s first world title win, when he captured the WBC super middleweight title from Anthony Dirrell.

‘The Ripper’, a wonderful nickname for a fighter born on October 31, looked done at championship level when he suffered back-to-back losses to Marcus Browne and Jean Pascal. Having drawn two of his previous three going in, it began to look as if either luck or a lack of spark was preventing Jack from closing out fights. The two-division world champ seemed unlikely to add to his haul.

The Swedish fighter’s rebuild was steady. After all, he had fought an absolute murderer’s row of boxers consecutively. Jack faced Dirrell, George Groves, Lucian Bute, Nathan Cleverly, Adonis Stevenson, Browne and Pascal. Every single fighter listed was either a former, reigning or future world champion except Browne, who gave Artur Beterbiev hell in a 2021 title challenge.

After that procession of the divisional elite, Badou could afford to regroup. He did so by heading to cruiserweight and picking up five consecutive victories. The level of competition was moderate but Jack’s activity was consistent. His big name likely eased the door open for a crack at WBC kingpin Ilunga Makabu. Jack’s fists snatched the belt with a 12th-round TKO win.

Which brings us to Mikaelian’s role to play in this tale. Here’s where it gets a bit batsh*t, and long-term readers will be unsurprised to find it was the sanctioning bodies up to their usual tricks.

Jack vacated the WBC belt to move up to bridgerweight, the easy-pickings division between cruiserweight and heavyweight. Mikaelian won the vacant crown by stopping previous champ Makabu by third-round knockout. Are you with me so far?

Controversial Canadian Ryan Rozicki was installed as Mikaelian’s challenger while Jack ostensibly prepared for his bridgerweight bow. But the Armenian was injured in sparring 10 days before the fight. The purse bids for a rescheduled fight collapsed due to a reported legal dispute between Mikaelian and promoter Don King.

Rozicki would instead face Yamil Peralta for the WBC interim title while this mess was cleaned up. But the fight ended in a draw and no champion crowned. This was not wholly unexpected, given the fact that the result of their previous fight, a Rozicki points win, was so controversial that the WBC refused to give the Canadian the International title that was on the line.

In the wake of all this madness, the WBC decided to add to it by declaring Jack their cruiserweight champion once again. Yes, the super Swede had decided against fighting in boxing’s most pointless division. Quite why this meant Mikaelian had to be stripped of the crown is a mystery, particularly because Jack’s first defence would be against… Noel Mikaelian.

Just to keep the red tape wrapped around this title for the rest of time, Jack’s razor-thin majority decision over Mikaelian in May could have gone either way. So we are back to do it all again. That means there’s no look in for the WBC interim champion, Michal Cieslak, who ended up winning the title against middle-aged former world champion Jean Pascal. 

Quite why neither Rozicki nor Peralta were involved given neither lost in their challenge for that belt remains a mystery. What isn’t a mystery is the reasons why this organisation has come under fire from the likes of Terence Crawford recently. The WBC have once again neglected to cover themselves in glory.

Jack vs Mikaelian Full Card

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Jack vs Mikaelian Prediction

The first meeting was a battle fought in fits and starts. Mikaelian looked sharper when keeping Jack on the end of his jab. But the challenger (or is that champion?) was one-paced. When Jack pressed the accelerator, he had the better of the exchanges.

Jack is a master of nicking the rounds. This man has had more close calls than most boxers have had fights. ‘The Ripper’ is a master of knowing when to speed up and catch the judges’ eyes. 

Unless Mikaelian can find another gear, I reckon the champion retains using that exact same principle. He might get out-jabbed and out-boxed at times. But Jack will never get out-hustled or out-gamed. The 42-year-old knows too much. Jack to win on points is 12/5.

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