A horrifying laceration to boxer Badou Jack's forehead during his unsuccessful WBA light heavyweight title bid against underdog Marcus Browne has left fans reeling with some calling the gruesome gash "the worst" they'd seen.
Sweden-born former world champion Jack suffered the cut in the seventh round as the two boxers’ heads accidentally came together, causing his forehead to split open and creating a web of blood across his face.
Browne came away unscathed from the head clash, and referee Tony Weeks called a timeout but later allowed the action to continue. But Jack’s injury was later worsened by an uppercut, causing the blood flow to periodically blind the boxer from then on.
After the uppercut connected, Jack paused and showed his discomfort, and another break was called to inspect the cut. The doctor however didn’t deem the gash serious enough to stop the fight and Jack’s corner only offered words of encouragement, ensuring their fighter the injury was not as serious.
Fans implored Jack’s corner to stop the fight online and berated his corner for allowing their man to carry on with the stomach-churning slash that had seared the middle of his forehead down to the centre of his face.
By the end of the fight, Weeks’ shirt was covered in blood as he awarded the fight to Browne who won by scores of 117-110, 116-111, 119-108 to maintain his unbeaten record and hand Jack only the second loss of his career, failing to reclaim the WBA belt he won from Nathan Cleverly in 2017
Former WBC super middleweight champ Jack later assured fans that despite the cut being undeniably a nasty one, he had been stitched up at the hospital in Las Vegas and was recovering well.
“I would like to thank all of the fans for your support! The cut was a nasty one, but I’m fine now, alhamdulillah,” Jack wrote with pictures of himself in receiving treatment in the hospital.
“Congrats to @Marcus_Browne who fought a great fight. Regardless of the cut he was the better man tonight.
“I am a warrior and will never quit, but didn’t realize the severity of the gash. I dedicated this fight to the refugee children across the world who fight a much tougher fight than I did tonight. I will continue to fight for them until the end, In shaa Allah. Alhamdulillah!”