By Jake Donovan
 
CHICAGO—In the end, Anthony Dirrell’s bark turned out to be worse than his fight night bite. 

Badou Jack offered perhaps the most disciplined performance of his career, enjoying a strong second half surge to edge Dirrell by majority decision Friday evening at UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.

Dirrell spent all week literally barking at Jack, playing up his “The Dog” nickname. The defending titlist carried it like he could hurt Jack any time he let his hands go. Why he chose otherwise is anyone’s guess, as his right hands almost always caused Jack to immediately go into a defensive shell. He won the first round on activity alone, but was pushed a bit in round two. 

Jack picked up the attack in more ways than one. His best punch of the round was an overhand right that caught Dirrell as he was lazy in putting up his defense following a missed right hand of his own. 

The most telling sequence came midway through the round, when Jack hip-tossed Dirrell to the canvas. While a highly illegal tactic, it was the first sign that Jack didn’t have any intention of backing down, despite Dirrell’s best week-long efforts to get inside his head.

It appeared to be a momentum changer, as Dirrell struggled to untrack his offense over the next few rounds. Punches came one at a time, his lack of aggression not even coming close to the crazed look in his eyes. 

Meanwhile, Jack was putting points on the cards by boxing intelligently. The once-beaten contender put his height and reach advantage to use, a welcomed alternative to his earlier tactic of tying up Dirrell anytime he threatened to throw a punch. 

The middle rounds did nothing to liven up the atmosphere, although action finally picked up in an entertaining eighth round. 

Jack slowly began to walk down Dirrell, driving him towards the ropes and looking to set up a right hand. His punch missed, with Dirrell moving backwards and tripping over Jack’s left foot. The sequence could have been sold as a knockdown, but Jack instead played the nice guy and helped Dirrell off the canvas. 

It was his only act of kindness in an otherwise convincing round. Jack was feeling the momentum, banging his chest in celebration at the end of the round and drawing a rise out of the crowd in the ninth. Chants of “Badou” began to fill the arena, with Dirrell failing to offer any reason to silence his challenger’s supporters. 

The championship rounds saw Dirrell attempt to surge and punch his way back into the fight. There were moments of success, scoring with an occasional left hook upstairs, but Jack never wilted, going well against the scouting report that suggested the Vegas-based contender would eventually cave. 

Jack continued to dictate the distance and pace in the 12th and final round. Yet another mishap saw Dirrell slip and fall to the canvas, once again followed by Jack exuding good sportsmanship in assisting him back on his feet. The confident challenger spent the rest of the round bringing the fight to the unbeaten titlist, sticking his jab in Dirrell’s face and smothering his punches to avoid late fight drama. 

A score of 114-114, was overruled by scores of 115-113 and 116-112 in favor of Jack, who advances to 19-1-1 (12KOs) in becoming a super middleweight titlist.

Dirrell loses for the first time as a pro, falling to 27-1-1 (22KOs). The bout was his first attempted defense of the title he won in his rematch with Sakio Bika last August. The feat made him just the second fighter ever to overcome cancer to win a major title, turning the trick just one week after Daniel Jacobs captured a middleweight belt.

Jacobs managed to defend his title on the undercard, stopping Caleb Truax in the 12th and final round of their televised co-feature. A full recap can be found here.

The bout aired live on Spike TV as part of Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions series. 

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox