WASHINGTON (AP) Badou Jack retained his WBC super-middleweight title with a 12-round majority draw with Lucian Bute on Saturday night.
Judge Stephen Rados scored the fight 117-111 for Jack, and Omar Minton and Glen Crocker both had it 114-114.
Jack (20-1-2) had won four fights in a row heading into his second title defense.
Jack said he still plans to move on to a unification bout with James DeGale, who defended his IBF super-middleweight title by unanimous decision against Rogelio Medina earlier at the DC Armory.
The Romanian-born Bute (32-3-1), a former 168-pound champion, had lost to the British DeGale in his previous bout and appeared to think he had suffered another loss.
Bute opened the 12th round swinging, and did so again following a timeout with 55 seconds left to fix tape on Jack's right glove.
As the final bell sounded, Jack raised his hands in anticipation of victory while Bute only turned and headed to his corner.
After cautious opening exchanges, Jack came to life in the fifth, landing several blows clean, including a long, looping left hook with under 50 seconds left in the round.
A similar connection to start the 11th commenced on of the fight's liveliest rounds, one that ended with a section of Romanian fans chanting ''Bu-te! Bu-te!''
DeGale (23-1) survived a tough challenge from Medina (36-7), who outpunched the defending champ by an almost 2-to-1 margin despite connecting on fewer overall. DeGale's most memorable sequence may have come in the sixth round, when he connected clean on all three punches of a left-right-left hook combination.
