Badou Jack is facing Blake McKernan on November 28 on the undercard of the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. card, but there was a time when Jack almost fought former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz.
The boxing star says talks began with Ortiz for an exhibition bout, but Ortiz apparently wanted too much money for the fight.
“At first, they were talking about me doing an exhibition boxing match against Tito Ortiz. I was like yeah sure and Ortiz wanted too much money and he didn’t want to fight me so it was scratched,” Jack said on Just Scrap Radio (via Cole Shelton of BJPenn.com). “Or, at least that is what I heard. It makes no sense to cut weight for an exhibition, so we then decided to find a cruiserweight and dedicated it to the charity and they found this guy.”
McKernan isn’t exactly a pushover is his own right, as the boxer holds a 13-0-0 record.
Jack says it wouldn’t have been fair for him to face an MMA star like Ortiz in a boxing match.
“That was mostly just talks. He is a little older and is retired so I’m not sure what happened,” Jack explained. “I don’t follow MMA and then they said it would be a real fight. I can’t fight an MMA fighter in a boxing match. Unless it is big money. Unless it a huge name and a big money fight then it makes sense. Why would I fight an MMA guy? That is no fair.”
Fightful has all of your MMA needs covered. Follow us on Twitter for updates, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for exclusive interviews, lists, news updates and predictions.
