Badou Jack had the right strategy on Saturday to wear down light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson. Unfortunately for the former two-division titleholder, he started too late.

After giving away the first half of the fight in hopes that his 40-year-old opponent would tire, Jack mounted a furious rally that left Stevenson barely able to stand at the final bell. But Jack (22-1-3, 13 KOs) was once again forced to settle for a draw in a big fight as Stevenson (29-1-1, 24 KOs) made the ninth defense of his WBC and lineal 175-pound championship.

Two judges scored the fight, which headlined a split-site Showtime doubleheader from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, 114-114. The third judge had it 115-113 for Jack. CBS Sports also scored the fight even.

Respect box? Subscribe to my podcast -- In This Corner with Brian Campbell -- where we take an in-depth look at the world of boxing each week.

"I thought I definitely won the fight. Nobody is complaining and no judge had him winning," Jack said. "I have no idea [why it was a draw]. It could be [the judges] are jealous of [promoter] Floyd [Mayweather]. I am one of Floyd's top fighters. Maybe they don't like Floyd. To be honest, I don't know. I can't do anything about it."

Jack's second-half surge was nearly derailed late in Round 10 when he closed a round he had dominated by grimacing due to a body shot. The punch left him visibly in pain to open Round 11 as Stevenson came back to life offensively to steal a pivotal round on two of the three scorecards.

"Definitely I won the fight because I hurt him in the body," Stevenson said. "He slowed down and I kept the pressure on him. He was moving sleaky but I touched him more and I think I won this fight.

"I go to the body and I kept putting the pressure on him but I felt I won this fight. Badou is a two-time champion and a good fighter but I think I won the fight."

For as boring as the first six rounds were as Stevenson controlled with his jab, the second half was exciting thanks to Jack's pressure at close range. Jack, 34, wore Stevenson down by going to the body and bloodied his nose in Round 7.

Jack outlanded Stevenson, 209 to 165, according to CompuBox and connected on 38 percent of his overall punches (compared to 27 percent for Stevenson). But after the fight, the former super middleweight champion admitted he stepped on the gas pedal too late.

"Maybe, yeah; but he didn't really hit me either. Nothing happened," Jack said. "It is what it is. I can't do anything about it. Let's do a rematch. I came here to his backyard but now it's time for him to come to mine in Las Vegas. I'm not the judge so I have to respect them."

Showtime cameras caught Jack's trainer, former light heavyweight champion Lou Del Valle, instructing him after Round 5 to "stay patient" and that "you are the late man." The rounds in which Jack won, he did so in convincing fashion. He just started too late.

"He's a two-time world champion and a good fighter," Stevenson said. "I fought a good fighter and I think that anybody who wants to see me [versus] a good fighter, I fought a good fighter. I kept the pressure on him and I fought him.

"I touched him with the right hand to the body and slowed him down. He kept moving with the pressure and tried to come to attack but I felt I won this fight. I can give him a rematch if he needs. Of course, definitely. I loved it."

Stevenson, boxing's second-longest reigning active champion behind unified middleweight king Gennady Golovkin, showed his age as Jack dragged him into deep waters. The native of Haiti, who fights out of Quebec, was wobbled and exhausted in the final round but never hit the canvas.