Badou Jack W12 Norair Mikaelian ... WBC cruiserweight champion Badou Jack retained his title against former champion Noel Mikaelian a/k/a Norair Mikaelian in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Jack, who lives in the Middle East seemingly got some favorable treatment from the judges, winning a majority decision in what was a very close bout that leaned towards Mikaelian. The official scores were 114-114 and 115-113 (twice) for Jack. Compubox's Punchtats showed Mikaeljan threw 670 punches to Jack's 369, and outlanded Jack, 153 punches to 122. Each fighter entered the bout with some disadvantages. Mikaelian (27-3) stepped in as a somewhat late replacement, getting about three weeks notice to replace the injured Ryan Rozicki. Jack (29-3-3) is 41 years old and hadn't fought in two years, since he captured the crown on February 26, 2023. He was demoted to champion-in-recess, but then had his championship status revived when Mikaelian was demoted from champion to champion in recess due to promotional issues with Don King.