Norair Mikaeljan forced Badou Jack into potential retirement, as he took the Swede’s WBC cruiserweight title in a rematch, winning on the scorecards in Los Angeles.
Jack and Michelin met in May in Riyadh, where there was little to choose between the two, with Jack (29-4-3, KO17) emerging a majority decision winner by just one round on two cards, with the third card drawn.
Mikaeljan (28-3, KO12) would emerge the winner this time around.
Mikaelian got the better of a close opener, but Jack landed a nice left hook in the second that caught the challengers attention, and the pair got heated at the end of the frame.
Jack hurt his opponent in the third with a heavy volume of punches, and worked well on the counter in the fourth, but Mikaelian started to warm to his task, working the body and having success on the inside, but he was deducted a point in the seventh for hitting behind the head.
Jack returned the favour a round later for hitting on the break as the fight turned into a brawl, the two fighting after the bell and Mikaelian was now starting to break the champion down, focusing on the body to sap the energy of Jack going into the championship rounds.
Mikaelian finished strongly, and it looked like his second-half efforts would be rewarded with the title, which they duly were.
Two scores of 116-110 and a third at 115-111 saw Mikaelian crowned the new champion.
Brook Sibrian vs Gloria Munguilla
Heading the undercard was a vacant WBC International light flyweight title clash, and Brook Sibrian (9-2, KO4) gained revenge against Gloria Munguilla (8-3, KO0) winning their rematch via majority decision.
A drawn card of 95-95 was overruled by scores of 97-93 and 96-94 in Sibrian’s favour.
Remaining undercard
In six-rounders, Jonny Mansour (6-0, KO2) won all available rounds against Marco Antonio Juarez (12-10-3, KO5) at lightweight, and unbeaten super lightweight Deni Davtian (5-0, KO3) did the same against Lorenzo Antonio Vazquez Avalos (2-1, KO2), and super featherweight novice Julius Ballo (2-0, KO0) scored a knockdown on the way to outscoring Nestor Robledo (9-16-2, KO0).
At featherweight, Samvel Gandilian (8-0-1, KO3) dropped Roberto Pucheta (14-28-3, KO8) on the way to a points success.
In four round action, Hayley Jordan (1-1) was a points winner, and gained revenge in her bantamweight rematch with Chantal Sumrall (1-3-1, KO0), winning on points, and at super lightweight, Sasha Saldana (2-0, KO0) was also a points victor against Vana Medrano Yanez (0-2-1).
Robert Daniels Jr (9-2, KO8) was a first-round knockout winner against Tristan Hamm (0-2) in their light heavyweight contest.
