Badou Jack vs Noel Mikaelian: Two Paths Collide in a War for the WBC Cruiserweight Power

 When Badou Jack and Noel Mikaelian face each other, it is more than just a fight for the WBC Cruiserweight World Title. It is the clash of two radically different trajectories that, through merit, resilience, and ambition, have inevitably converged.

Badou Jack is no longer merely that former world champion who survived wars at super middleweight and light heavyweight. Today, he is something rarer: a champion who, with more than a decade among the elite, continues to find new layers in his boxing and new reasons to fight. Jack was never one to shout, but he is one to break silences: every time someone counted him out, he returned with a performance that demanded his story be rewritten.

His career is a living manual of resilience: defeat, split decisions, cuts, nights where it seemed the final bell had arrived… but it never did. The man refused to let the timeline consume him. He bent it. And so, when many were already walking toward retirement, he returned to lift a world belt, this time at cruiserweight, a territory where punches sound different and bodies carry another kind of weight.

In 2015, “Ripper” secured his first world title, the green and gold super middleweight belt, which he defended three times.

A World Boxing Council belt returned to the Swede’s hands in 2023 when he knocked out Ilunga Makabu in the twelfth round; the African was dropped in the fourth and eleventh episodes. With this victory, Jack conquered the WBC Cruiserweight World Title.

After being named champion in recess, he returned to the ring in 2025 to face the then-WBC Cruiserweight World Champion, Noel Mikaelian. Badou won the title again after prevailing by majority decision.

At this point, Badou Jack is a strange symbol: a veteran who won’t fade, a champion who won’t resign, a name that continues to demand respect. And boxing, which rarely forgives, keeps opening the door for him because Jack has proven time and again that he still has something to say.

For years, Noel Mikaelian was one of those dangerous talents circulating under the radar: too technical for those seeking chaos, too disciplined for those who confuse spectacle with noise. But boxing, sooner or later, always finds the men who work in the shadows. And when his moment arrived, Mikaelian didn’t ask permission: he dominated, convinced, and lifted the WBC Cruiserweight title with a performance that forced everyone to take notice.

After dominating the cruiserweight division, in 2020 he conquered his first WBC title, the WBC International Cruiserweight Title. But his ascent had only just begun.

During 2022 and 2023, he added the Silver and World titles at 200 pounds to his record. Like Badou Jack, Mikaelian defeated Makabu by TKO to win the world title.

In 2025, he had a genuine war against the Swede who took his title. Now, the Armenian boxer will seek to regain it.

Mikaelian is a problem for anyone in the division. Cold, methodical, clean, with a jab that doesn’t just measure distance: it wears down, frustrates, and breaks the opponent’s will. His boxing carries the tense calm of a fighter who doesn’t rush, who knows exactly where he is and where he is going. And when he finds his rhythm, he locks you into a fight where he dictates the tempo, and you are just trying to survive.

Noel Mikaelian went from being a solid name in Europe to becoming one of the most respected—and dangerous—champions in world boxing.

The event will take place on Saturday, December 13th, from ACE Mission Studios, Los Angeles.

Fight Card

 Main Event

Badou Jack vs Noel Mikaelian

WBC Cruiserweight World Championship

Co-Main Event

Sibrian vs Munguilla

WBC International Mini Flyweight Title

Undercard

Adrien Boler vs Abel Alba

Jonny Mansour vs Tristan Hamm

Julio Dallo vs Hayley Jordan

Ángel Lozano vs (Opponent to be announced)