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GAMBIA: Badou Jack signed by boxing agency
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Submitted by modoubeyai on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 10:39am
“Being a boxer in Sweden is like playing ice hockey in Africa,” laughs undefeated super middleweight Badou Jack nicknamed “The Ripper”.
The 27-year-old recently moved from his native Stockholm to Florida and signed a promotional contract with The Empire Sports and Entertainment.
“Boxing is not so big in Sweden, so if you want to be a boxer you have to get out of there”, Badou Jack said.
It’s been an unlikely journey in boxing so far for Jack, who was hanging around “doing nothing” in his late teens until a friend talked him into checking out the local boxing gym.
“I was 17 years old and my friend took me to the gym. The trainer that first day told me I have real talent and I've been boxing ever since. I won my first 25 fights and I won the Swedish Championship six times. I won a lot of tournaments in Europe. I had 150 fights and my record was something like 122-28”, Badou is quoted as saying shortly after he signed his contract.
Despite his parents’ protestations, Badou Jack, whose father is of Gambian heritage whilst the mother is Swedish, went on to become Gambia’s first-ever Olympian, representing his father’s home country as a middleweight.
“It was a real good experience to be there, but not the fight. I lost to the eventual bronze medalist. He was a runner and was holding a lot. I would knock him out if it was a pro fight. I’m a fighter, so pro boxing is much better for me. And I’m in great condition so I can fight more than four rounds. I like to fight six or eight rounds”, he said.
Even more unlikely than becoming a boxer in Sweden is making friends with a heavyweight champion who eventually moves you into his house and hooks you up with his promoter but that’s exactly what happened.
Explaining on how the whole contract came about, Badou said, it is thirty-nine year old American heavyweight boxer and actor Shannon Briggs who helped him out on getting the contract.
He said, “Shannon Briggs was in Sweden for the Ingo Memorial show and he liked me, so we kept contact through the social media [Facebook]. It was Shannon’s idea for me to move here and sign with The Empire and I trust him. So I’m staying here at his place in Florida. I love it. The weather is nice and the girls and everything.”
Although he is fairly tall for the division, Jack says he likes to fight on the inside. “I can do a lot. I like to fight on the inside and work the body. I have a very good uppercut.”
Odds makers could probably have never predicted the improbable rise in professional boxing of a Gambian-Swedish who didn't start boxing until he was nearly 18 years old. But here is Badou Jack, a strong body-ripping powerhouse set to begin making waves at 75 kg (170 lbs). With an influential promoter and a world champion for a housemate, Jack looks set to beat the odds.
“You never know what will happen in boxing... that's why people outside Sweden love it so much,” concluded The Ripper.
The Empire Sports & Entertainment is engaged in the business of "live" entertainment, as a promoter and producer for the highest quality music and sporting events. Their goal is to become the leader in integrated promotion, marketing and production of live events covering a wide range of talent and Badou is lucky to be part of them as the first Gambian professional boxer.
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