It was only last month that the Flemish Doping Tribunal finally cleared Jackson’s name over his failure to provide details of his whereabouts last year for random, out-of-competition drug testing. These are the same new reporting requirements that threatened to ensnare tennis players Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse last year.
Jackson said he never received the letter telling him he was one of Flanders’ 713 top athletes, and therefore subject to the system. But (like Wickmayer and Malisse) he has now been given the green light after four months of uncertainty, which means he can go ahead with his planned 19 March bout against American Randall Bailey in Antwerp’s Lotto Arena.
Jackson first came to Belgium with his father in 1997 when he was just 16. He joined the Antwerpse Boksschool, where his fearsome punch and dogged stamina added up to an awesome fighting talent. He also took up the “Sugar” moniker in honour of his hero, Sugar Ray Robinson.
Jackson has scored 31 wins in 34 bouts since he turned professional in 2001, including knocking out France’s Nordin Mouchi in 2007 to claim the EBU welterweight title. After an undefeated run of 21 fights since 2003, he lost on points in September 2008 to Poland’s Rafal “Braveheart” Jackiewicz – in the process, losing the EBU belt he had held four times. He lost again last July to Turkey’s Selcuk Aydin.
The boxing world is famously split between fight and title organisations, and Jackson’s EBU and IBC belts are not considered majors. In 2006, when he was five years into his pro career, he was still making a living as a computer design specialist.
But Jackson still believes he can make it. His website opens with the sounds of the song “The World’s Greatest” from the biopic Ali. It also offers fans the chance to buy a life-size bronze bust of Jackson. “I´m prepared to go anywhere to make it happen,” he said in 2006. “I´m a professional boxer and ready for anyone.”
Night of the Fight V: Sugar Jackson vs Randall Bailey, 19 March, Lotto Arena, Antwerp
Flanders Today is a 
12°C / 25°C
