DeGale signing with Hearn could lead to Groves and Froch fights

By Boxing News - 04/09/2014 - Comments

degale4By Scott Gilfoid: #2 WBC, #2 WBO, #5 IBF, super middleweight contender James DeGale (18-1, 12 KO’s) will reportedly be signing with Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn this Thursday, as DeGale has already left his promoter Mick Hennessy and Hearn is talking about a “Major new signing,” according to The Guardian.

By signing with Hearn, DeGale will be putting himself in position to fight Hearn’s top two fighters Carl Froch and George Groves at some point in the future. Hearn obviously knows he can make a ton of money by matching DeGale with either of these fighters, so it’s quite possible we’ll see DeGale fighting one or both of them very soon.

DeGale is ranked high enough to where he’s going to be fighting for a world title even if he doesn’t get a shot at the winner of the Froch-Groves 2 fight. DeGale is in a prime position to fight WBO 168lb champion Arthur Abraham or WBC champion Sakio Bika. Those are decent but far from great fights. I’m sure Hearn would much prefer to get DeGale a shot at the Froch-Groves winner because it’s a fight that the British public would eat up, and he might be able to make it a pay-per-view fight if he matches DeGale against Froch.

DeGale already lost to Groves three years ago in losing a close 12 round majority decision in 2011 in a fight that really could have gone either way. I had DeGale winning the fight, but most of the British public sided with Groves. It was kind of a tough situation for DeGale because he was fighting in a hostile environment as the crowd was a pro-Groves crowd, and they were deadly silent each time DeGale would land anything, and they would scream each time Groves landed.

DeGale’s career has been going nowhere since his loss to Groves. He changed promoters, but the opposition he faced, which was never good to begin with, has really gone downhill with DeGale fighting either little known guys or fighters who are over the hill. Since his loss to Groves in 2011, DeGale has beaten the following fighters: Gevorg Khatchikian, Dyah Davis, Stjepan Bozic, Sebastian Demers, Fulgencio Zuniga, Hadillah Mohoumadi, Cristian Sanavia and Piotr Wilczewski. DeGale has won his last 8 opponents, but he’s not been facing anyone that you could call a good fighter. Those three years were essentially wasted years for DeGale.



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