By Cormac O Donnell
WBC Cruiserweight Champion Badou Jack a Swede-Gambian spoke about plans for his next fight, the development of boxing in the Middle East, and offers some sound advice to young people in the sport of boxing:
You’ve won multiple WBC belts in your career. What does that famous green and gold belt mean for you?
Man, It’s the best! It’s the best out of all four of them. To me it means a lot.
I believe you would like to add the WBC Bridgerweight belt to your collection. Are talks in place for you to fight Lucasz Rozanski?
We’re working on it. I would like to be back in the ring as soon as possible; probably in the fall or something.
Lucasz Rosanski is undefeated and has 14 out of 15 wins by Knockout. What challenges does he pose for you at Bridgerweight?
He’s got the physical and the strength advantage. He’s bigger than me. But I believe in myself and that skills pay the bills. I have more experience and am the better fighter. The fire’s not done yet.
Would that fight take place in Saudia Arabia?
It looks like it.
Describe your relationship with Mauricio Sulaiman through the years.
We have a good relationship. Yeah, definitely. He always checks on me. I appreciate him a lot. I saw him here in Dubai and he was at the last fight in Saudi.
I told him: when you come to to Saudi, don’t forget my personal belt. He said don’t worry, it’s already packed!
What do you think of the WBC’s efforts to develop boxing in the Middle East?
It’s amazing, especially me being here and promoting shows here. I love it. You know, WBC have always been like a family to me, even before I was a champion.
Whatever we do, they support and I’m glad that they are helping to build boxing in the Middle East.
What is the appeal of Dubai for you?
Dubai is the Vegas of the Middle East. I’ve been coming here since 2017. The Five Palm Jumeirah Hotel is one of my partners and I have a lot of friends, a lot of business partners; a lot of things going on here. I love it.
What has it been like to visit Saudi Arabia?
Man, Saudi Arabia is like a second home – same like here in the UAE. Their hospitality is second to none.
They really take care of me. It’s a country that’s growing now. They’re gonna do a lot more. They have vision.
You’re signed to Prince Khaled’s Skill Challenge Entertainment and are represented by Amer Abdallah. What do they specifically bring to the fight promotion business?
Prince Khaled loves boxing. He’s a big, big boxing fan – so he wants to create the biggest fights for the fans and for the fighters. He’s amazing for boxing.
They work with everybody. They don’t care about politics, this promoter or that network; that doesn’t matter.
(Amer is) My best friend, my brother and the business part is just bonus.
Tell us a bit more about your humanitarian efforts and Team Jack.
Right now, we we’re working in Gambia with a friend of mine that has an amazing orphanage called the Squad Project. We have to feed a bunch of villages and distribute food.
We do some stuff in Jordan also; we have a refugee camp that we support.
Have WBC Cares been involved with your foundation?
Yeah, with the Jack Foundation, yeah, they’ve been helping a lot all over the years since I’ve been since I had my foundation. So yeah, they helped both me and Amer (Abdallah) with everything and it’s been amazing.
What are 3 pieces of advice that you could give young people?
Number one, always put God first. 2) Always believe in yourself. 3)Anything is possible.
I might fight for my 4th division world title. When I started boxing, I never thought I was gonna do that and I’m not even done yet.
It’s all about believing this stuff, have good people around you and stay positive.
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