By Ryan Burton

WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack (20-1-2) and IBF champion James DeGale (23-1) are headed towards a fall unification bout.

The bout has been talked about for some quite some time and both fighters have navigated through some rough patches to get close to the fight finally coming to fruition.

In his last two bouts DeGale won unanimous decisions against Rogelio "Porky" Medina and Lucian Bute in fights that were much closer than the final scores indicated.

"He had some tough opponents like I had. I think that could have been a draw with Porky. I saw that fight afterwards and it could have been a draw.  Bute was a tough fight but you got to take the belt from the champion. I think against me he will raise his game up," Jack stated.

Jack fought Bute to a controversial draw in his last fight which took place in April. Many observers felt that the judges ignored the bodywork that Jack employed throughout the fight and that the Floyd Mayweather promoted fighter deserved to get the victory.

Bute ended up testing positive for a banned substance and there is a good possibility that the draw result will be changed to a no-contest.

The 32-year-old Jack feels that explains why Bute was able to fight at a high level late in the fight.

"That explained why he was strong in the later rounds. He came back strong after all the body punches I hit him with but everybody saw that I won that fight so I am not even worried about that and I am looking forward to fighting James DeGale," Jack told BoxingScene.com.

A formal announcement for Jack-DeGale is expected in the next few weeks.

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