Superman Robs “The Ripper”

“This will begin with heavy rounds and close out the tab with a major bomb shot, for what will amount to a Badou of empty Jack lying and spinning all over the canvas in round 5.”

–Yours truly, at the end of “Superman Mugs The Ripper”

Badou Jack (22-1-3, 13KOs) made me sick to my stomach. When you write something like that with the hubris of Adonis Stevenson, you actually watch the fight looking for the kryptonite shot with bias, while overlooking where it is and where it’s actually coming from. Like… the other guy. I don’t know if Badou Jack likes whiskey, but that isn’t stopping a few friends from making sure I’m forced to after Jack (Damn you Badou! You stubborn, tough bastard!) survives the fifth round.

Unaccustomed to being both drunk and frustrated while watching boxing like an insane fan, it almost pleases me to know that Jack’s ballsy performance (literally) is having an intoxicating effect on Superman as well. After the fifth round, his cape is almost being waved around the Air Canada Center in Toronto by a giddy Floyd Mayweather (Esther Lin pic)..

.. who has found a way to inculcate in Jack’s mind that Adonis is 40 – and it doesn’t feel quite as good as his own near 35 in ring combat.

Floyd would know based on last summer with Conor McGregor, and he knows he has an experienced pro in Jack; constantly (and meticulously) moving to his right from the orthodox position, romancing space, while only occasionally flirting with disaster. With each round, I can feel Adonis is losing strength while winning, but with a looming sense that he’ll be losing soon and about to become very, very mortal.

None of this is good for a looming hangover.

No longer able to fly around the ring after the sixth, Stevenson was no longer bullet proof after a brutal seventh round that saw him take a pounding. By round nine, he was a Haitian Clark Kent looking to get lost with his own Lois Lane at ringside in a white ballroom dress.

Then… it happens. Stevenson lands his straight left from Krypton to the body and dooms Jack badly in the tenth.

In fact, I’m thinking Jack is about to get KTFO, until he somehow negotiates with a ring terrorist on enemy soil until he runs out of bullets. Going 12 championship rounds of boxing is a different type of Tour de France and one of the least appreciated difficult things to do in life. How Stevenson endured all twelve while built for a ‘KO via 6’ is beyond me. He earned a Draw but he didn’t deserve it (I had it 115-113 Jack), as he now aims to show the world if he’s capable of pulling off an Andrzej Fonfara if the rematch goes down.

Jim Gray, never afraid to look, sound or act like an asshole (Hey, that’s why he’s in the HOF), asked Stevenson if he felt 40 in there because he looked it. And, of course, Stevenson passive aggressively denied this, ecstatic with the Draw. He’ll no doubt go back to whatever planet he resides on in Canada, with plans to reappear in a black cape. Superman died on the big screen and may have lied on your flat screen…

To be continued.