BADOU JACK, LUCIAN BUTE & JAMES DEGALE MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT Leonard Ellerbe Good morning everyone. It’s a bright, sunny, beautiful day here in Las Vegas. Thank you all for joining the call today. I just want to go over a few fight facts real quickly. Tickets are on sale now, and they start as low as $25. They can be purchased online at Ticketmaster and all Ticketmaster locations. Our event will be live on SHOWTIME at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT We’ll be bringing you a double header of super middleweight title fights. Our event is promoted by Mayweather Promotions, in association with Interbox and Matchroom Boxing. The main event will feature Badou Jack versus Lucian Bute for the WBC Super Middleweight World Championship. Also on the card will be another very exciting televised bout. It will be featuring the IBF Super Middleweight Champion, James DeGale. DeGale will be fighting his mandatory challenger, Rogelio Medina. And the winners, all four fighters, have agreed to meet in a Super Middleweight Unification fight later this year. Well first up I’d like to introduce Lucian Bute. He comes to us with a 32 and 3 record with 25 big knockouts. He’s fighting out of Montreal, Canada by way of Romania. He’s a former IBF with nine title defenses between 2007 and 2012. His most recent performance against James DeGale was a very exciting bout and the fans were very impressed and earned him the right for this title shot. So without further ado, I’d like to introduce Lucian Bute. Lucian Bute Hi everybody. I think camp is going very well. Still very, very good. I’m very comfortable and very confident for this fight. All my hard work is done – just have a few days here in Montreal. Next week we coming in to Washington, DC. Everything is going well. L. Ellerbe Okay. Next up I’d like to introduce the WBC Super Middleweight Champion of the World, none other than Badou Jack who is coming with us with a 20 and 1 record, with 12 big knockouts. He’s fighting out of Las Vegas by way of Stockholm, Sweden. He’s Mayweather Promotion’s top fighter. He won the WBC Super Middleweight Title with a 12 round majority decision over Anthony Dirrell last April. He retained it when he caged George Groves last September on the Mayweather-Berto undercard, which was a very exciting fight. So Badou, would you like to say a few opening words? Badou Jack Yes. How’s everybody doing? I’m very excited for this fight. We’ve been training for more than 12 weeks. We’re definitely ready. All the hard work IS done and I can’t wait to fight. I’m very, very excited. Lucian Bute is a very tough opponent, so I have to bring my A game. I feel we’re going to put up a very good fight, a fan friendly fight for the fans. Thank you. Q Badou, can you talk about your approach to this fight? How do you think you’re going to be able to win and retain the title? B. Jack I always believe in myself. That’s the main thing. I’m not trying to be fighting like no other fighter. I’m trying to do what I can do just to win. So I’m excited. I know I have probably the toughest test of my career. I’m excited. I just want to fight. That’s what I want and to do my thing. I’m very, very comfortable that I’m going to beat him. Q What do you think are your advantages in this fight? B. Jack I think I’m a little bit younger, three years younger I think. I’m a little fresher I think. But he’s got a lot of experience. He got way more experience than both Dirrell and Groves. So you never know in boxing. It’s a hard business and he’s the guy up. We’ve been training real hard, so we are ready. Q Lucian, tell us why you think you’re going to be able to win this fight and capture this title. L. Bute: Like I said, my confidence before the fight with DeGale was not 100%. Now it’s back 100%. I feel good. I feel strong. The training time is going very well. I feel very comfortable. I think it’s a big opportunity for me to become world champion for the second time. I will do that in Washington, D.C.. I’m very confident about that. Q What happened before the DeGale fight? Was it the fact that you had one fight before that? L. Bute I was not comfortable maintaining my fitness. I had a long period to break. I’m healthy in this moment. Everything is going well. I had one fight before DeGale, a tune up fight. Against DeGale I think I looked good and everybody saw I’m very competitive in the high-level fights. Q What did you learn from the Carl Froch fight that maybe you’re taking into this fight about how to manage the pressures of fighting away from home? L. Bute My last fight for the title fight was in 2012, and the pressure wasn’t on me. If I don’t have the title, the pressure wasn’t on my shoulders. But now it’s different thing. The champion is Badou Jack in the United States and the fight is in Washington, D.C.. I’m very comfortable with that. I have no pressure. I’m coming in to Washington, D.C. , looking forward to become world champion on April 30. Q Now this will be your third fight working with new trainers. In what way have they changed you as a fighter? How has your style changed in your opinion now that you’ve been working with them? L. Bute We work very hard. Last year we started. We started to have chemistry where we understand by just looking at each other. We work very hard. I’m more aggressive in moving my head. Letting my hand go. I feel very comfortable with this, like Lucian Bute at the beginning. What did Floyd Mayweather say or do for you to help you bounce back the way that you have from your one loss? B. Jack He just said that anybody can get caught with a good punch. I know you’re better than that guy you lost to. Just keep your head up good and bounce back. It was nothing that he really did to help me to bounce back. In boxing anything can happen and fast. I proved that that was just a lucky punch or an accident or whatever. I proved that in my last couple of fights. So everything is good. It was actually a blessing because people were overlooking me because of that loss. Q What does it feel like for you then having been in the background or having people overlook you to now be in a headlining role on SHOWTIME in a fight coming up? B. Jack Like I said, it’s a blessing. I’m very, very comfortable, very happy and I’m glad that my opponent is very confident too. That’s what we want him to be. Just like the last two opponents, they were very confident. So I’m looking forward for to a great fight. Q The same question for both fighters is how do you like this tournament situation you’re in? B. Jack It’s something to look forward to, but you have to respect your opponent and you have to respect what’s in front of you. That Lucian Bute is a very tough time. So I’m thinking about him right now, that’s all. I’m focused on him. But, you know, after that we can talk about the next fight. Yes. I’m excited. L. Bute I feel great. It’s a big opportunity. But like Badou said, I’m very focused, very content in this fight. If I take this belt, after that we’re looking forward to have an opportunity to unify the titles. I would love to have a chance to unify the fight. But I’m very, very focused on April 30. Q How did you prepare for a strong punch or a strong left-handed punch like Lucian Bute? B. Jack Well I’ve fought southpaws my whole life in sparring and . I got a good right hand. I like fighting southpaws. Q Usually fighters don’t like to look far ahead like that. Are you taking maybe a bit too lightly this next fight against Bute? B. Jack Absolutely not. I never said that. So I said, like I just answered the other question. I’m fully focused on Lucian Bute. I still got to beat this guy too. So right now our only focus is Bute. After that we’ll see what’s next. In the future I will definitely move up the latter. Q Badou I’m just wondering if you are able to beat Lucian and wind up fighting DeGale, how much does it help to fight southpaws back to back and kind of get into a rhythm of training for southpaws and back to back fights? B. Jack I don’t know. It’s good to prepare for southpaws Like I said, it’s a very tough fight. So not looking past it I have to fight it.