James DeGale gets British eliminator shot
Olympic gold medallist James DeGale has announced that his next bout will be against Carl Dilks as they battle it out in a British super-middleweight eliminator title clash.
This will take part of Frank Warrens ‘magnificent seven’ card on September 18th which would pave the way for DeGale’s first belt of real value.
Since his Olympic success in 2008 “Chunky” has been going about his business accumulating a professional record of 7-7-0 with five knockouts along the way. So far Warren’s protégé is taking it easy with journeymen, although he raised the bar a little bit in his last fight with the decent second-tier fighter Sam Horton.
DeGale loves the razzmatazz of the big occasion and is a showman in and out the ring. He is going to become one of those characters that really divides opinion. Against Horton a couple of times he showboated and got cuffed, a better boxer could have dropped the Londoner. What Chunky needs to do is get his head down in these early fights and learn the keys to surviving bouts, rather than concentrating on putting on a show.
To enhance his development DeGale could do with going the full 12 rounds and Dilks maybe the man to do that, having never been knocked out before. Fight fans may recognise Dilks from Prizefighter, the light-heavyweights, last year or perhaps from his win against Carl Drake in April. “Dynamite” as he is known is a strong solid fighter who will test DeGale and really make him work.
Of course the fight everyone wants to see DeGale in is against arch nemesis George Groves. The two have a long-standing amateur feud that they have brought on to the professional circuit and if both fulfil their potential this is bubbling under to be the most exciting domestic rivalry since Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank.
Groves marked his American debut with a victory on the undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez’s victory over Juan Diaz on the weekend and the duo will be linked against each other non-stop until they fight. Hopefully they give it a bit longer yet, but also hopefully it does happen and doesn’t go the way of Manny Pacquiao v Floyd Mayweather or David Haye v a Klitschko.
For now DeGale will be concentrating on his first proper title and developing his career further. Dilks is a good next step as he career gains tempo, if he carries on down this path it won’t be long until it reaches DeGale force.
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