By Scott Gilfoid: James DeGale (10-1, 8 KO’s) is looking to take his career to the next level in September when he goes after the European Boxing Union super middleweight title against champion Piotr Wilczewski.

This is an important step up fight for DeGale, because depending on how well he does against Wilczewski it will give him a good idea of where he’s at in comparison with the other top super middleweights in the division. Wilczewski is ranked at #2 by the World Boxing Organization while DeGale is currently at no.7.

A win over Wilczewski will push DeGale up the rankings and possibly get him close enough to where he could soon be taking on the WBO champion Robert Stieglitz or maybe Mikkel Kessler if he knocks off Stieglitz. Winning a world title is DeGale’s goal after he snatched the EBU crown. Along the way there’s the revenge factor for DeGale with George Groves.

DeGale may give Groves a shot at fighting him again once DeGale wins a world title. However, if he’s smart, DeGale should take the fight out of the country to ensure that Groves’ fans don’t influence the judging with their screaming.

If DeGale insists on fighting Groves again in the UK, then he’s going to probably knock Groves out to ensure that he gets the win next time, because as we saw in their last fight, DeGale has to be extra special to get a decision against Groves. The two have fought twice with Groves winning both of them.

I had DeGale winning both fights. If I’m DeGale, I would focus on fighting other world level fighters and not look bad. He should have won the fight, but when you’ve got judges and loud pro-Groves screaming, it’s tough to get a decision. My advice is to let Groves try to earn his own way to the top and not give him any handouts by giving him a shot at DeGale’s title once he captures the EBU and world title. There’s too much of a risk of DeGale ending up on the receiving end of another badly controversial decision.

DeGale is pleased that his famous promoter Frank Warren has got him this title shot against Wilczewski. A lot of fighters would have had to work their way up to this spot after a loss like the one that DeGale suffered against Groves. However, the strange thing is, DeGale didn’t lose anything from the defeat. He’s still ranked as high as he was before by the sanctioning bodies. The reason I believe for this is because the sanctioning bodies probably believe as I do that DeGale deserved the decision in the Groves fight.