WBC Special Preview: BADOU JACK vs NOEL MIKAELIAN II
WBC STATISTICS
WBC Cruiserweight World Championship
December 13, 2025 / Los Angeles, California / Ace Mission Studios
BASH BOXING PRESENTS:
BADOU JACK “The Ripper” (Gambia/Sweden)
· WBC Cruiserweight World Champion (2-time)
· Former WBC Super Middleweight World Champion, 3 Successful Defenses
Age: 42 / Date of birth: October 31, 1983
Residence: Las Vegas, Nevada / Birthplace: Stockholm, Sweden
Record: 29-3-3, 17 KOs / Total rounds: 232 / World championship fights: 5-1-3, 2 KOs
Height: 6’1” – 185cm / Reach: 73” – 185cm / Stance: Right-handed
NOEL “Dark Horse” MIKAELIAN (Armenia/Germany)
· Ranked WBC No. 1 at Cruiserweight
· Former WBC Cruiserweight World Champion
· Former WBC Silver Cruiserweight Champion
· Former WBC International Cruiserweight Champion
Age: 35 / Date of birth: September 18, 1990
Residence: Miami, Florida / Birthplace: Yerevan, Armenia
Record: 27-3, 12 KOs / Total rounds: 209 / World championship fights: 1-1, 1 KO
Height: 6’3.5” – 192cm / Reach: 75” – 191cm / Stance: Right-handed
WBC CRUISERWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONS
1. Marvin Camel (USA) 1980
2. Carlos de Leon (Puerto Rico) 1980 – 1982
3. S.T. Gordon (USA) 1982 – 1983
4. Carlos de Leon (Puerto Rico) * 1983 – 1985
5. Alfonzo Ratliff (USA) 1985
6. Bernard Benton (USA) 1985 – 1986
7. Carlos de Leon (Puerto Rico) * 1986 – 1988
8. Evander Holyfield (USA) 1988
9. Carlos de Leon (Puerto Rico) * 1989 – 1990
10. Massimiliano Duran (Italy) 1990 – 1991
11. Anaclet Wamba (France) 1991 – 1995
12. Marcelo Dominguez (Argentina) 1995 – 1998
13. Juan Carlos Gomez (Cuba) 1998 – 2002
14. Wayne Braithwaite (Guyana) 2002 – 2005
15. Jean-Marc Mormeck (France) 2007
16. O’Neil Bell (USA) 2006 – 2007
17. Jean Marc Mormeck (France)* 2007
18. David Haye (United Kingdom) 2007 – 2008
19. Giacobbe Fragomeni (Italy) 2008 – 2009
20. Zsolt Erdei (Hungary) 2008 – 2010
21. Krzystof Wlodarczyk (Poland) 2010 – 2014
22. Grigory Drozd (Russia) 2014 – 2015
23. Tony Bellew (United Kingdom) 2016 – 2017
24. Mairis Briedis (Latvia) 2017 – 2018
25. Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine) 2018 – 2019
26. Ilunga Makubu (Congo) 2020 – 2023
27. Badou Jack (Gambia-Sweden) 2023
28. Noel Mikalian (Armenia/Germany) 2023
29. Badou Jack* (Gambia-Sweden) 2005 –
* Regained
WBC TOP 10 CRUISERWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONS
1. Evander Holyfield (USA)
2. Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine)
3. Juan Carlos Gomez (Cuba-Germany)
4. David Haye (United Kingdom)
5. Tony Bellew (United Kingdom)
6. Mairis Briedis (Latvia)
7. Zsolt Erdei (Hungary)
8. Krzystof Wlodarczyk (Poland)
9. Jean-Marc Mormeck (France)
10. Anaclet Wamba (France)
GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE CRUISERWEIGHT DIVISION IN WBC HISTORY
24 world champions have been recognized by the WBC, three of whom have regained the title: Carlos de Leon (Puerto Rico) three times, Jean Marc Mormeck (France), Badou Jack (Gambia-Sweden).
78 cruiserweight world championship bouts have been held in the history of the WBC.
MEMORABLE WBC CRUISERWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTS
May 3, 2025 Badou Jack W12 Noel Mikaelian – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Nov. 4, 2023 Noel Mikaelian TKO3 Ilunga Makabu – Miami, Florida
Feb. 26, 2023 Badou Jack TKO12 Ilunga Makabu – Diriyah, Saudi Arabia
Jan. 29, 2022 Ilunga Makubu W12 Thabiso Mchunu – Warren, Ohio
Dec. 19, 2020 Ilunga Makabu TKO7 Olanrewaju Durodola – Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of The Congo
Jan. 31, 2020 Ilunga Makubu W12 Michal Cieslak – Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of The Congo
Nov. 10, 2018 Oleksandr Usyk TKO8 Tony Bellew – Manchester, England
July 21, 2018 Oleksandr Usyk W12 Murat Gassiev – Moscow, Russia
Jan. 27, 2018 Oleksandr Usyk W12 Mairis Briedis – Riga, Latvia
Apr. 1, 2017 Mairis Briedis W12 Marco Huck – Westfalenhalle, Germany
May 29, 2016 Tony Bellew TKO3 Ilunga Makabu – Liverpool, England
Sep. 27, 2014 Grigory Drozd W12 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk – Moscow, Russia
May 15, 2010 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk TKO8 Giacobbe Fragomeni – Lodz, Poland
Oct. 24, 2008 Giacobbe Fragomeni TW8 Rudolf Kraj – Milan, Italy
Mar. 8, 2008 David Haye TKO2 Enzo Maccarinelli – London, England
Jan. 7, 2006 O’Neil Bell KO10 Jean Marc Mormeck – New York, New York
Apr. 2, 2005 Jean Marc Mormeck W12 Wayne Braithwaite – Worcester, Massachusetts
Oct. 11, 2002 Wayne Braithwaite TKO10 Vincenzo Cantatore – Lombardia, Italy
Feb. 21, 1998 Juan Carlos Gomez W12 Marcelo Fabian Dominguez – Buenos Aires, Argentina
July 25, 1995 Marcelo Fabian Dominguez TKO9 Akim Tafir – Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France
July 20, 1991 Anaclet Wamba TKO11 Massimiliano Duran – Palermo, Sicily
July 27, 1990 Massimiliano Duran WDQ11 Carlos DeLeon – Capo d’Orlando, Sicily
May 17, 1989 Carlos DeLeon TKO9 Sammy Reeson – London, England
Apr. 9, 1988 Evander Holyfield TKO8 Carlos DeLeon – Las Vegas, Nevada
Feb. 24, 1982 Carlos DeLeon TKO8 Marvin Camel – Atlantic City, New Jersey
Mar. 31, 1980 Marvin Camel W15 Mate Parlov – Las Vegas, Nevada
Dec. 8, 1979 Marvin Camel D15 Mate Parlov – Split, Croatia
Noel and Badou-How do you do
By James Blears
WBC cruiserweight champion Badou Jack must put all his cards on the table face up to deliver a winning hand, if he`s to retain his title against bigger and younger Noel Mikaeljan in their rematch, which will this time be at the Ace Mission Studios, Los Angeles on Saturday December 13th.
How will 42 year old Badou use his vintage boxing skills to win again, after his narrow majority decision victory over 35 year old Noel in Riyadh on May 3rd? Perhaps drawing from the guile and bile advice of Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles who malevolently urged: ‘’Now go do the voodoo that you do so well!’’
As they age, the smartest fighters learn a few tricks of the trade, ploys and adapt plus adopt an array of decoys. At his age Badou can`t maintain a constant, blistering and unrelenting pace for the entirety of twelve rounds. Round by round, he must pace himself, cleverly and artfully fighting in bursts, carefully picking his moments, mindful of producing a flurry in the last minute, so it will hopefully make an impressive lasting impression and stay fresh in the minds of the Judges. To conserve his energy, so there`s something left in the tank for the championship rounds, to achieve a strong finish. Thus and plus deliver a convincing argument.
In their first fight Badou, landed 122 of 369 punches he threw, while Noel landed 153 punches of the 670 that he threw. Yet two Judges saw Badou winning by margins of 115-113, while the other saw it as a 114-114 draw. It`s very much to do with perception, as well as quality balanced against quantity. Also, the weight of the punch landed and its effectiveness, plus the stamina of both fighters.
In this respect, Noel was at a disadvantage first time around. With less than three weeks of notice, he stepped up and stepped in to replace Ryan Rozicki who suffered a torn a bicep in training. Noel was doing well in the first half of the fight, throwing a lot of punches. But at the half way point, Badou started specifically targeting the body, which doesn`t tend to move as much, and the tenderizing effect tends to drain the recipient. At the end of round seven sitting in his corner, Noel said he was feeling tired, to which his trainer Don Charles tartly, curtly and tersely responded: ‘’I don`t care. Find it!’’
At the end of round eight, Noel over extended, Badou swivelled and caught him with a jarring left full in the face, moments prior to the bell. In round nine, Badou continued the attack, but Noel responded by catching him and stemming the impetus flow with two big overhead rights. By the eleventh Badou was still focusing on the body and proving more effective in the clinches, while Noel was landing head shots.
In the twelfth, Noel landed hard, with a long right to the head and to the body, and then a left right combination, while Badou landed a very big right to the head, seconds before the bell. Sportingly and showing their calibre plus class, as true professionals both shook hands, chatted aimably and showed great respect. Then the result, which surprised Noel and Don King Promotions launched an appeal. The WBC decided that as it was so very close, both should afford themselves of the opportunity all over again.
Previously, Noel had TKO`d former champion Ilunga ‘’Junior’’ Makabu in three rounds to win the vacant cruiser title. This happened after Badou had TKO`s Makabu in the twelfth round to win the title, had then decided to vacate, move up to contest the Bridgerweight title against Lukasz Rozenski, but that didn’t come to fruition and he returned to claim the title. Noel`s title defence with Ryan Rozicki kept falling through, in fact five times, due to injury and contractual reasons and he became champion in recess.
Unlike Badou, Noel is physically a natural cruiserweight and has always fought in this weight category since his pro debut in 2011. He stands six feet three and a half inches tall and his reach is seventy- five inches. Badou is six feet one inches tall, has a seventy- three inches reach and has been a pro two years longer. He has won world titles at super-middleweight, light heavyweight and cruiserweight.
After an early career setback, when he was caught cold in round one and TKO`d after twice being canvassed, by Derek Edwards, Badou regrouped and tightened his defence. He won the WBC super-middleweight title by defeated Anthony Dirrell by MD. He TKO`d Nathan Cleverly in five to win the WBA Regular Light heavyweight belt. Then a tremendous hard- fought draw with hard hitting slugfest WBC Champion Adonis Stevenson, which resulted in a thrilling draw.
He lost his WBA title in a bloodbath against WBC Silver Champion Marcus Browne via UD. A seventh- round accidental clash of heads opened a vertical divot of a cut/gash on Badou`s forehead and he fought on as the blood flowed copiously, spilling in claret jug proportions. Badou then lost a SD to Jean Pascal. Badou was dropped in the fourth, but returned the compliment in the twelfth. Then five wins, leading up to Makabu. Badou`s record is 29-3-3, 17 KO`s. He`s matured and improved with age, fighting two hundred and thirty- two rounds, but just how much longer can he roll back the years?
Noel`s is 27-3, 12 KO`s, fighting two hundred and nine rounds as a pro. All three of his defeats have been hard fought close losses. He lost a SD, after a tough and rugged encounter with IBF Champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, defeated Isiah Thomas by UD, and then, with the WBC Diamond belt at stake he lost a very competitive UD to Mairis Briedis in the World Super Series.
After an eighteen months absence, Noel returned to KO Jessie Bryan in four rounds to win the Vacant WBC International title. Then another fourteen months off. He came back to win the vacant WBC Silver Belt, defeating Youri Kalenga by UD. Then he delivered the dose of salts to Ilunga Makabu with a three rounds TKO to win the vacant WBC Green and Gold Belt, went into recess and then fought Badou for the WBC title, which he didn’t do enough to win, in the eyes of two of the Judges.
Noel has had significantly more days to prepare this time, as it`s a rematch, NOT a step in at fairly short notice. He`s physically bigger than Badou and his appreciably younger. To win, he must set a blistering pace, so as to tire the older man. Tired people tend to make mistakes, which must then be capitalized upon.
Badou has won crowns in three weight divisions and the quality of his opponents has been exceptional. To retain the title, Badou must dictate a steady if not sedate pace and try to slow Noel down with body punches, but earlier on this time. Fighters become old overnight, but Badou is no spring chicken anyway. He must hold back the hands of the clock, as time isn`t on his side, while trying to smother and blunt Noel`s onslaught and somehow upping his own punch output.
The saying is that life begins at forty, but not so much in boxing. George Foreman, Bernard Hopkins and Alicia Ashley proved the exception, but they are few and far between.
Related posts
test