Born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden. Badou holds the best of two worlds; meaning with a mother from Sweden and a father from Gambia. He started to box at the quite "late" age of 18 years and when asked about this from random journalist he states: As long as you got a vision and determination, ain't nothing going to stop you reaching your goals unless you let yourself get stopped.

AIF Boxnings Klubb with the late Hasse Widmark guided Badou Jack into the world of amateur boxing and after a good 4 years at AIF Badou was introduced to DIF Boxning where Walter Mohr took him to his stall. Badou Jack managed to win lots of Swedish gold medals and several International championships representing his native Sweden. In 2008 Badou Jack decided to try to qualify for the Olympics in Beijing for Gambia due to several obstacles and issues that hesitated his development in the Swedish national team. He succeeded and became the first ever boxer in history from Gambia to qualify for the Olympic Games, where he also was the flag bearer in front of 100 000 people and millions of TV viewers around the globe watching The Olympics in Beijing 2008.