by David P. Greisman

The two fighters who came up short on Saturday night’s super middleweight doubleheader have now been in the ring with both of the men who left with their 168-pound title belts still around their waists.

Lucian Bute lost to James DeGale last November and fought to a draw with Badou Jack on Saturday in Washington, D.C; most thought Jack deserved the win. And Rogelio “Porky” Medina suffered a sixth-round technical knockout loss to Jack back in 2013 and then dropped a unanimous decision to DeGale on Saturday.

Medina felt he deserved the win. Many at ringside believed the scores should’ve at least been closer than the 117-111 card that was announced for DeGale; the other two scores were 116-112 and 115-113 for DeGale.

DeGale and Jack will now move toward a unification fight. While Bute was diplomatic in calling it a 50-50 bout, Medina had no hesitation in deciding who he thought was better. Of course, he was also at least a little biased.

“I think Badou Jack is a better fighter and he’s more of an actual fighter that comes to fight,” Medina said afterward. “DeGale is more of a track athlete because he just comes to run around.”

DeGale didn’t throw as many punches as Medina, but that’s not a fair comparison; Medina was credited by CompuBox with throwing 1,140 shots. DeGale had a good output, sending out 612 punches overall and landing 314, a connect rate of 51 percent. He was 222 of 338 with power shots, a 66 percent connect rate.

DeGale actually exchanged with Medina more than he should’ve. He says he was trying to make the fight more entertaining. More likely, Medina’s pressure led to him landing 265 times on DeGale, including 216 power shots.

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