Comfortable for DeGale

By Boxing News - 11/16/2013 - Comments

By Rachel Aylett: James DeGale headlined for the third time tonight at Glow, Bluewater in Kent, England, as he defended his WBC Silver super-middleweight title for the second time against American Dyah Davis.

This was an ideal opportunity, one week prior to the hugely hyped box office clash between domestic rivals Carl Froch and George Groves, for DeGale, 17-1 (11), to put down a marker and show the boxing world that he is still a factor in this division. However, despite retaining his belt with a unanimous decision (all scores 118-110), James failed to convince the doubters that he can replicate his Olympic gold medal winning performance from 2008 in the pro ranks.

Davis 22-4-1 (10), was brought to the UK as a mark-time opponent for DeGale, prior to a hoped for WBC elimination bout next year with Mexican Marco Antonio Periban. As is the norm, the American challenger boasted in the lead-up to the fight of what he would do to Chunky and said to the Brit at the weigh-in that he was “a dead man walking”. Those who had previously seen Davis though were aware that he brought nothing to the table with which to back up those claims. He is a solid defensive fighter, but when required to come forward and attack, he is sorely lacking in offence. He neither has the presence nor the power to be able to force a fight and he was never going to be able to outbox the faster, slicker and more skilled DeGale. The fight tonight, therefore, was all about DeGale and whether he would be able to take the spotlight away from his fellow Brits prior to their eagerly awaited match-up next Saturday.

He certainly started the fight well, using raiding tactics to score with three and four punch combinations to the head of the trepidatious Davis. Indeed, DeGale seemed to unsettle Davis with hard shots in rounds two, four and five. On these occasions, Davis would back off but was never disturbed enough for DeGale to take advantage and follow up.

There was a slight sea-change in rounds six and seven, as Chunky clearly took his foot off the pedal and seemed to have already given up the idea that he might stop his opponent. In these rounds, Davis was encouraged enough to increase his punch output and at this point was matching DeGale punch for punch. Davis won two rounds on all of the judges’ cards and also on mine; these two rounds would have been seven and eight, as DeGale looked ever so slightly gassed and allowed the American to outland him. There was never a feeling that the American could come on and win the fight, having fallen so far behind, but it seemed he might tighten it up on the cards. Some gentle persuasion from veteran trainer Jim McDonnell in the corner had DeGale pick up the pace again and he swept the final four rounds to take the victory on the scorecards. Each fighter only landed one punch of note throughout the fight – in the eighth, Davis landed a crunching right hand bang on the nose, which had blood pouring from the Englishman’s nostrils. At first it seemed as though the nose might be broken, but after having it tended in the corner at the end of the round it never bothered DeGale again. DeGale’s best punch of the fight was in the tenth, when a looping overhand left landed flush on the chin of Davis, sending him back into the ropes. He covered up well though and easily survived the subsequent brief onslaught.

It seems crass to criticise DeGale when he won so clearly on the scorecards against a reasonable opponent. However, this just does not seem to be the same fighter who destroyed Carl Dilks and Paul Smith in 2010 on his initial march to the British title. It seems clear that the defeat to bitter rival George Groves in May 2011 has irrevocably affected James’s confidence. In Davis’ last defeat, he was stopped in the tenth round by Sakio Bika. Prior to tonight’s fight, it was hoped that DeGale would be able to match, or even better, this performance. Never once though did he look likely to stop his outgunned opponent.

In the post-fight interview, James described his performance as “alright” and once again laid a semblance of blame on his previously injured knee, which he described as now at 95% of normal. If DeGale goes down the WBC route, which seems to be his major option at the moment, he may well get past the aforementioned Periban, but one wonders how he would cope against the rough and tough Bika, the current champion. At this point I would not make James the favourite in that fight.

As for Davis, he is less than a pale shadow of his wonderfully talented father, Howard. As afficionados will know, Howard was one of the stars of the wonderful 1976 US Olympic team and won a gold medal alongside a certain Ray Leonard. Also gold medallists from that team were the Spinks brothers and Leo Randolph, all future professional stars. It is a bugbear for Howard that he was never able to win a professional world title, despite having three shots at the big one. For this writer, he must be one of the most talented fighters never to do so. He hoped that his son might be able to make up for this by going one step farther than he did. This, unfortunately, is a forlorn hope, as Dyah’s apple has fallen too far from his father’s tree.

On the undercard, Chris Eubank Jr. continued his unbeaten run by knocking out Welshman Frankie Borg in the sixth and final round. Eubank brought a spectacular end to what had been a fairly humdrum performance by landing a scintillating right uppercut which shook Borg to his core before he collapsed to the canvas. He desperately tried to arise before the 10-count, but the referee waved it off as he struggled to regain his feet. Eubank is at last starting to show the power which up to now has seemed to be lacking in his arsenal. This prodigy has undoubted talent and would be a match right now for any of the domestic middleweights outside of the big four.

@RachelAylett1



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