By David Robinett at ringside
Photos: Esther Lin/SHOWTIME

2012 United States Olympian Marcus Browne (23-0, 16 KOs) earned his first major title, winning the interim WBA light heavyweight belt with a twelve round unanimous decision over a bloodied Badou Jack (22-2-3, 13 KOs) on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Scores were 116-111, 117-110, and 119-108 in a fight that may be most remembered for the profuse amount of blood spilled from Jack’s head over the last half of the fight, covering both fighters and referee Tony Weeks in a seemingly endless stream of crimson.

From the start it was clear that the younger Browne was the fresher, more active fighter as the southpaw consistently worked behind his right jab, mixing in lead left and right hands, particularly to the body. For the first half of the fight Jack appeared sluggish, with his ineffective counterpunches slow to develop.

The tenor of the fight changed in round seven, when a clash of heads ripped open a long vertical cut on Jack’s forehead. Almost immediately, blood started flowing freely and continuously from the cut, which itself got larger as the rounds progressed until it covered nearly the length of Jack’s forehead from the bridge of his nose to just below his hairline. The cut seemed to inject some urgency into Jack, as he began to throw more punches and counter more aggressively over the remaining rounds, while repeatedly pawing at the spigot on his head. Jack also received the benefit of a questionable point taken away from Browne for holding later in the seventh round, which seemed a bit arbitrary since both Browne and Jack were equally guilty of excessive grappling at times.

Ultimately Browne would not be deterred though, effectively targeting both the cut and Jack’s body over the remaining rounds en route to a convincing victory.

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