LAS VEGAS — Marcus Browne, the younger, fresher man, took it to Badou Jack throughout the fight. Jack never found a rhythm and suffered a horrendous cut.
The result: Browne claimed a one-sided unanimous decision and a vacant interim light heavyweight world title in the co-feature of the Manny Pacquiao-Adrien Broner card Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Even before the cut on Jack’s forehead from an accidental head-butt in the seventh round, Browne was in control of the bout, ultimately winning by scores of 119-108, 117-110 and 116-111.
Jack (22-2-3, 13 KOs), 35, of Las Vegas, had won world titles at super middleweight and light heavyweight and had faced numerous top opponents, but he had also been in many grueling battles, while Browne was very hungry in his first major fight — and he delivered.
“He was a real tough competitor. He thought he would take me deep in the rounds and drown me but I came in shape,” Browne said. “I used my athletic ability. I did what I do best — box the crap out of people. I was too slick, too sharp.”
Browne, a southpaw, didn’t get off to that quick of a start, but he did a lot more than Jack and appeared to put the first three rounds in the bank.
Jack, who is often a slow starter, resorted to throwing one punch at a time and then charging at Browne and tying him up. But Browne wriggled out of a clinch in the fifth round and landed a powerful shot on Jack that brought a quiet crowd to life.
In the seventh round, an accidental head-butt opened a terrible vertical gash down in the middle of Jack’s forehead, and the blood streamed down the middle of his face. Later in the round, referee Tony Weeks docked a point from Browne for hitting on the break.
“He was coming in with his head all night,” Browne said. “I was telling Tony all night, ‘Watch his head.'”
Browne (23-0, 16 KOs), 28, of Staten Island, New York, went after Jack hard in the eighth round. He landed body shots and hooks to the head as Jack had blood all over his face from the cut on his forehead. He looked weary as Browne kept firing away.
In the 11th round, as blood poured down Jack’s face, he pounded his gloves together for Brown to come and get him, but Weeks called timeout to have the cut examined by the ringside doctor. Jack was allowed to continue, but blood covered his face and body, Browne’s body and Weeks’ shirt.
Jack was taken to the hospital immediately after the fight because of the cut.
Oubaali wins vacant bantamweight title
In a rematch of their 2012 bout at the London Olympics, bantamweight Nordine Oubaali beat former world titleholder Rau’shee Warren again, this time to win a vacant world title.
Oubaali (15-0, 11 KOs), 32, a two-time Olympian from France making his United States debut, won by scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113 in a fight he controlled from the outset.
In the opening round of the 2012 Olympics, Oubaali outpointed three-time U.S. Olympian Warren 19-18.
“This was my dream. I made my dream come true, my American dream,” Oubaali said. “I want to thank all the people of America and France who supported me. I put on the pressure. I had the speed. He is a very good boxer — he’s slick, and he’s smart. This is a very big night to win my first world championship.”
Oubaali, with former pound-for-pound king Roy Jones Jr. in his corner as one of his trainers, was far more aggressive than fellow southpaw Warren (16-3, 4 KOs), 31, of Cincinnati, who was more measured in his attack, though he caught Oubaali with a solid right hand that appeared to rattle him just before the end of the third round.
Oubaali found a lot of success with his right hook, which he landed repeatedly throughout the fight. He also had a big seventh round in which he landed the hook and several clean left hands that buckled Warren late in the round.
Warren had short bursts of offense, but went long stretches without throwing any punches while Oubaali was constantly on the attack. Warren had one of his outbursts to open the 11th round, but just as quickly as he threw rapid combinations, he backed off.
“I felt like I was doing pretty good in the beginning of the fight, but after the fifth or sixth I let off the gas,” Warren said. “I was using my jab and wanted to finish it with my left hand. The judges saw it the way it was. He wanted it more. You could tell. He had his foot on the gas.
“I’m not done. I’m still going to come back for it. Every fight that I lost has always been a world title fight. I’m still up in the main brackets.”
Ruiz rolls past Guevara
Former junior featherweight titlist Hugo Ruiz scored an early knockdown and cruised to a near-shutout decision over Mexican countryman Alberto Guevara in a featherweight bout that opened the Showtime PPV telecast. Ruiz won 100-90, 99-90 and 99-90.
Ruiz started fast, landing a right-left combination to drop Guevara early in the first round, but Guevara did not appear badly hurt and got up quickly. From there, the fight slowed considerably. There was little action until the ninth round, when Ruiz trapped Guevara in the corner and pounded him with several body shots.
Ruiz (39-4, 33 KOs), 30, had been scheduled to challenge the Philippines’ Jhack Tepora for his interim featherweight world title, but Tepora badly missed weight. He was 131.5 pounds at Friday’s weigh-in, a whopping 5.5 pounds over the 126-pound division limit. He was stripped of the belt and dropped from the fight per Nevada State Athletic Commission rules on the allowable spread in weight between combatants.
Knowing Tepora was having weight problems, former bantamweight world title challenger Guevara (27-4, 12 KOs), 28, had been put on standby a week ago in case he was needed to fill in, and he made 126 pounds.
Ruiz was disappointed with his performance despite winning handily.
“I trained for the southpaw and then I had to fight a right-hander at the last minute,” Ruiz said. “The other guy was a puncher and this guy is a boxer. It made it difficult for me to fight him because it wasn’t what I trained for. It was supposed to be a title fight. I was so disappointed and my mind wasn’t totally in it.”
More undercard results
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Lightweight George Kambosos Jr. (16-0, 9 KOs), a 25-year-old Australian prospect who served as Pacquiao’s chief sparring partner, cruised to a shutout decision over Rey Perez (24-11, 8 KOs), 28, of the Philippines. Kambosos, the much faster and more physical fighter, won 80-72 on all three scorecards in his second fight in the United States and his second consecutive appearance on a Pacquiao undercard.
A left hook from Kambosos knocked Perez off balance at the end of the fourth round. Kambosos continued to pick up the pressure in the fifth round and landed some solid combinations that forced Perez to hold on. He made it to the final bell despite the pressure and quick punches from Kambosos.
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Welterweight Jonathan Steele (9-2-1, 6 KOs), 27, of Dallas, scored an upset split decision over the Pacquiao-promoted Jayar Inson (18-2, 12 KOs), 28, of the Philippines. Steele, who roughed Inson up, won 78-73 and 77-74 on two scorecards while one judge ruled the fight 77-74 for Inson.
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Junior featherweight Desmond Jarmon (8-0, 4 KOs), 21, of Cincinnati, got an unexpectedly tough fight from Canton Miller (3-2-1, 1 KO), 27, of St. Louis, but prevailed by majority decision. Two judges scored the fight for Jarmon, 59-55 and 58-56, and one judge had the fight 57-57.
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Welterweight Destyne Butler (5-0, 3 KOs), 24, of Chicago, who is part of the Broner camp, cruised to a shutout decision against David Payne (3-2-1, 1 KO), 35, of Los Angeles. Butler won 40-36 on all three scorecards.
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Cruiserweight Viddal Riley (2-0, 2 KOs), 21, of England, needed only 33 seconds to score knockdowns in a first-round knockout victory over Mitchell Spangler (0-1), 26, of Sacramento, California.