Hennessey positioning DeGale for title shot against Andre Ward in 2013

By Boxing News - 02/18/2013 - Comments

degale345By Scott Gilfoid: WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (26-0, 14 KO’s) could have #4 WBC James DeGale (14-1, 9 KO’s) breathing down his neck by the end of the year if DeGale’s promoter Mick Hennessey has his way. Hennessey is hoping DeGale, who now holds the WBC Silver super middleweight strap, will be Ward’s mandatory challenger this year so that DeGale can get a title shot.

Hennessey said to the Dailymail.com “By the end of this year, we are looking to become the mandatory challenger for WBC world champion Andre Ward.”

I’m frankly shocked that Hennessey is positioning DeGale to try and fight Ward because DeGale would stand no chance at all of beating him. The only thing DeGale hope for is to go the full 12 rounds without getting knocked out. That alone would be a victory of sorts for DeGale. I mean, he would get totally schooled worse than anyone that Ward has beaten in the last couple of years, but DeGale could brag that he went 12 rounds.

It’s a horrible match-up for DeGale because he hasn’t even proven he can beat domestic level opposition. He lost to George Groves, which I felt he actually should have won, but it was still close enough to where he looked terrible. DeGale hasn’t fought anyone good since then, and looked less than impressive in winning his last four fights.

I don’t know if Hennessey has been keeping track of DeGale’s fights, but he should know that he would just be cannon fodder for Ward to toy with and blast out if they were to fight at the end of the year of the start of 2014. DeGale doesn’t have the talent to beat Ward, not now, not ever. The only thing DeGale will get out of that fight is a payday.

DeGale will be defending his WBC Silver 168 lb. strap next month on March 23rd against Pablo Oscar Natalio Farias (24-2, 16 KO’s) at the Glow, Bluewater, Greenhithe, Kent, United Kingdom. This should be a mismatch for DeGale because Farias was already been blown out by Arthur Abraham recently in a 5th round stoppage.



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