Former two-weight world champion Badou Jack is up and running in the cruiserweight division as he picked up a close split decision victory over the American Richard Rivera in Jeddah Saudi Arabia.
Jack was backed up early by Rivera in the first but Jack would answer Rivera's offence with a strong ending to the round. Rivera was partial to throwing short uppercuts on the inside and found some success, which would set up a right hook to momentarily stun Jack.
Rivera continued with his offence on the inside but Jack would land a big hook, seemingly causing Rivera problems in round six.
Round eight saw swelling appear over Jack's eye and that seemed to spur him on, as he began to implement his style of old as he began to walk down Rivera, and a flurry of huge hooks would cause issues. The bell would ring 30 seconds too late at the end of round eight, which lead to Rivera shipping more punishment than he needed to.
The final two rounds saw both men slow down and there was no clear leader going into the final round, as Rivera had an awkward style which didn't suit Jack's work. Round ten didn't see any last-minute dramas as both men fought to the final bell. The consensus was that Rivera did enough due to his awkward style, with one judge agreeing as their scorecard read 96-94 in his favour. However, the other two judges preferred the slightly slicker work of Jack, as they both scored the bout 96-94 in Jack's favour, declaring him the victor by split decision.