Magnificent Seven preview: James DeGale
There is no denying that James DeGale loves the big occasion. The Harlesden-born youngster has taken to the razzmatazz of big time boxing like Floyd Mayweather took to the shop that sells mirrors.
The jewel in the crown for the excellent Great Britain boxing squad that headed out to Beijing in 2008, DeGale exceeded expectations by coming home with a gold medal beating the likes of Bakhtiyar Artayev, Darren Sutherland and Emilio Correa along the way.
The gilded boxer was thrust into the national spotlight as a consequence; movie premiers, talk-shows, the works. Yet there is still much for “Chunky” to learn and he was brought back down to earth with a bump with a tentative professional debut against Vepkhia Tchilaia, which saw him dance around, not land any big punches and get booed by people who perhaps don’t understand the finer points of boxing debuts.
One thing is for sure, DeGale has the full package in there somewhere. He has power, lightning hand speed, fantastic balance and movement - it’s just a question of ironing out the creases.
Since his debut Chunky’s clocked up a record of seven wins, with five by KO, and is growing in confidence with every round he fights. Not that he’s short of any.
But “Gale-force” should use this early period of his career to learn the foundations, before showboating. For instance a couple of times against his opponents, noticeably Ally Morrison, DeGale has gone into the fight a bit cocky dropped his gloves and started bobbing his head Mike Tyson-esque as if he is so quick there’s no way he could get hit. Against the slightly better Matthew Barr he tried the same thing and nearly got caught. If he was to try it against a top-level fighter he would be saying hello to the canvas and goodbye to his career.
It’s no surprise the Londoner loves a ring walk as well. His live rapping entrance where one of his entourage repeatedly told the crowd in an un-rhythmic fashion that it was time for “Chuuuuunky” was an eyebrow raiser. He pulled that out the bag for only his sixth pro fight; imagine what he will do if he gets a world-title shot?
Still, having said that it is nice to have characters in the sport and DeGale will divide opinion and make headlines. If showboating is not your thing, then you have to appreciate this is a very talented individual and it will be interesting to watch his rise up the super-middleweight division.
There is a lot to look forward to in DeGale, but he has his work cut out because there is a lot of quality in the 12-stone division and you need to be very tough to survive. Look at the current top dogs like Mikkel Kessler and Carl Froch, good boxers but they can take some serious leather as well and this is the level of war Chunky needs to be able to throw down in.
It’s also worth noting his long running rivalry with George Groves. It will be fascinating to see their coming together and they have the potential to become the next Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank such is their hatred for one another.
On Saturday he faces Carl Dilks as he takes the next step up and they will be fighting it out for DeGale's minor WBA International title, but it also more significantly a British title eliminator shot which is a fascinating prospect as it is currently held by Paul Smith, who would certainly represent a much sterner test for the Olympian and should be the launch pad for the next stage of his career.
Watch out for DeGale against Dilks this Saturday, because he’s sure to do something interesting. One thing’s for sure with Chunky, whatever he does, it’s never dull.
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