Ilunga Makabu Faces an Unexpected Rival in Badou Jack 

It was a big surprise to learn that South African Ilunga Makabu will defend his WBC world cruiserweight title against Swede Badou Jack on February 26th at the Diriyah Arena in Saudi Arabia.

Known by the nickname “The Ripper,” Jack (27-3-3, 16 KOs) is now past his prime. Despite his indisputable qualitative decline, he is still ranked second in the WBA and WBO rankings, third by the WBC, and seventh by the IBF.

Although he was victorious in his last five fights, thirty-two-year-old Jack had a poor showing in his last appearance in August 2022 when he defeated American Richard Rivera (23-1, 17 KOs) by split decision in Jedah, Saudi Arabia. After 10 rounds, Jack received two favorable scorecards of 96-94 and the third with the reverse.

Jack is preceded in the WBC rankings by Armenian-German Noel Gevor (26-2, 11 KOs), who holds the WBC Silver and International belts and maintains a streak of three successive victories, the most recent being a unanimous decision against the Congolese fighter now based in France, Youri Kalenga (27-7, 20 KOs).

Makabu, the thirty-five-year-old southpaw, was born in Kananga, Democratic Republic of Congo and resides in Johannesburg, South Africa. He will defend the 200-pound belt for the third time, which he won when it was vacant on January 31, 2020. In that fight, he prevailed by unanimous decision over the Pole Michal Cieslak in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital.

Makabu maintains a 10-fight winning streak since his loss in the third round to now retired Brit Tony Bellew in May 2016 in Liverpool, England. The Englishman went to the canvas in the first round, but then put the African to sleep in the third.

Makabu experienced a frustrating and disappointing debut as a professional fighter. On his first night as a professional in June 2008, Makabu lost by TKO in the opening round to local rookie Khayeni Hlungwane in Cape Town, South Africa. However, after that traumatic beginning, Makabu went on a 19-fight winning streak which was stopped by Bellew in 2016.

In his most recent entrance to the ring on January 29th of last year, Makabu defeated South African Thabiso Mchunu (23-6, 13 KOs) by split decision in Warren, Ohio. Makabu was defending the WBC cruiserweight belt for the second time.

MAKABU vs CANELO

Those in attendance of the annual WBC Convention in November 2021 were stunned and in disbelief when Eddy Reynoso, coach and manager of star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, requested the opportunity for his fighter to face Ilunga Makabu, cruiserweight champion.

The request was even more inconceivable considering the fact that just a few days before, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the red-haired Aztec had established himself as the undisputed champion of the super middleweights by anesthetizing American Caleb Plant in the eleventh round where he snatched the IBF belt from Plant.

“We just approved the challenge between Canelo Alvarez and Junior Makabu in cruiserweight,” announced Mauricio Sulaiman, president of the WBC. This allows Canelo to aspire to win the fifth world championship belt of his career as he already has the super welterweight, middleweight, super middleweight, and light heavyweight belts in his possession.

“I know what he has done with the heavyweights he spars with, and that is why we asked for the fight,” said Reynoso, “We know that [Makabu] is strong, but Canelo can beat him. Many may say that it is crazy, but they also said that it was crazy when Canelo was junior middleweight champion, and we were looking for middleweights, super middleweight, light heavyweights. I have a lot of confidence in Canelo. He is very strong and has many qualities, and I know that he is going to win that fight.”

However, the vast majority of fight fans saw it as a difficult challenge to overcome, as even though Canelo had superior boxing skills, he would still be giving away a substantial amount of weight. Upon learning that the WBC approved the fight, Makabu immediately commented, “Yes, I accept the fight. When I got this news from my manager and the (WBC) President, I said, ‘Wow, this is something good.’ Canelo is the best boxer on the planet right now. So, I want to fight the best, and I accept, but there will be no catch-weight for this fight.”

Makabu continued, “I think Canelo is making a big mistake which he is going to regret, because I`ll walk away with all the (titles). Canelo wants to prove to people that he can do better than others and I am quite prepared to let Canelo try for this dream, but I’ve also got my own story to write down. Yes, this is boxing. I lost to Tony Bellew, but I came back. Now I’m telling you – 100%, I will knock out Canelo.”

Although it was declared that the Canelo-Makabu match would be the first for the Mexican star in 2022, Canelo took another path. In May, he tried unsuccessfully to wrest the WBA light heavyweight belt from Kyrgyzstan-born Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs), but the European came out with his arm raised by a fair unanimous decision.

Four months later, Canelo defeated Kazakh Gennady “GGG” Golovkin by unanimous decision in the fight concluding their trilogy. The bout took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Article submitted by Jorge Juan Álvarez in Spanish.

Please note any adjustments made were for clarification purposes and any errors in translation were unintentional.

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