James DeGale vs. George William Groves: No possibility of immediate rematch – Boxing news
The American professional boxer and Olympic gold medallist, James Frederick DeGale recently lost a competitive bout going against the British professional boxer and the super middleweight contender, George William Groves at the O2 Arena in London.
The British/Commonwealth champion, George Groves won the close 12-round majority decision over James ‘Chunky’ DeGale. The fight was for the British Board of Boxing Control’s Super Middleweight and Commonwealth Super Middleweight Titles.
The southpaw Londoner, DeGale lost his British Super Middleweight title in the process which he claimed after scoring another technical knockout decision over Paul Smith on December 11, 2010 fighting at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, London.
However, boxing fans from all around the world especially from the United States are not happy to take that close 12-round majority decision. Just one marginal point brought the victory for the 23-year-old Groves that became controversial after the fight.
All the three judges’ scorecards were 115-115, 115-114, 115-114 in the favour of Groves.
According to many boxing fans who closely watched the fight are of the view that it was a very harsh decision. It is very hard for fans to distinguish who was the best fighter because the scores went very close.
Talking about his fight with Groves, DeGale mentioned that Groves should not be so proud to win this fight and that he wants a rematch between them as soon as possible.
A request was made by DeGale’s teammates to the British Board of Boxing Control for an immediate rematch. However, the secretary of the Board, Robert Smith has rejected DeGale’s proposal. He spoke to the press that the Board just takes action against wrong
doings and there was nothing to be acted upon. He added that the champion has been declared winner by the ringside officials and that they were not going to order a re-match.
Robert Smith said, “There was nothing controversial or contentious about it. No one broke any rules. Why would the Board order a re-match? It was simply a very close fight, and there was nothing wrong with the decision.”
Groves on the other hand believes that there is no chance of a rematch because everything has been decided. He said, “I can’t see how Frank Warren can force me to fight DeGale again.”
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