James DeGale vs. Brandon Gonzales on 5/31 at Wembley Stadium

By Boxing News - 04/10/2014 - Comments

degale33By Scott Gilfoid: #5 IBF James DeGale (18-1, 12 KO’s) inked a contract with Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn earlier today. DeGale will now be looking to set himself up to potentially face the winner of the Carl Froch vs. George Groves 2 fight by battling #3 IBF Brandon Gonzales (18-0-1, 10 KO’s) in an IBF super middleweight eliminator bout on the undercard of Froch-Groves 2 on May 31st at the Wembley Stadium in London, UK.

If DeGale wins that fight than he’ll be locked in as the mandatory challenger for Froch’s IBF belt. However, that doesn’t mean he’ll get a chance at Froch, because he could choose to vacate the belt if the IBF tries to force him to take the fight. There are better paying fights out there for Froch than a fight against DeGale, and it’s a bad style match-up for the aging 36-year-old Froch. The last thing he needs is to be fighting another Andre Dirrell type of opponent at this late stage in his career.

If Groves beats Froch, then DeGale will definitely be getting a title shot against him because Groves isn’t going to duck the fight by giving up his title the way that Froch likely will. You can’t blame Froch if he avoids DeGale, because he could potentially get fights against George Groves or Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. If those fights are available, then of course Froch will take one of those bouts instead of fighting DeGale.

DeGale has a good chance of gaining more fans now that he’s with Hearn, because his fights will be televised on Sky and he’ll have access to bigger names potentially compared to the obscure ones he’s been facing for most of the career. As of now, DeGale has only fought one well known opponent in Groves, and he lost to him three years ago in 2011, albeit by a controversial decision.

“I’m not fussed who wins out of Carl and George,” DeGale said. “I think Carl is an easier fight as he is made for me, but George and I it is personal. I get angry talking about him.”

Like I said, DeGale might not have to Froch because he’ll likely vacate if he beats Groves. If he doesn’t vacate, I see him stringing the fight out until the point where he retires rather than facing DeGale. As such, DeGale is likely going to be waiting a long, long time before he gets his eventual title shot if Froch beats Groves on May 31st.

DeGale is right about Froch being the easier match-up than Groves. I believe he is the easier fight because he’ll be standing in front of DeGale throwing wild shots that DeGale will easily avoid all night long. It’s a fight that could potentially make Froch look bad, which is why I don’t see him taking it.

None of this will matter if DeGale doesn’t beat Gonzales on May 31st, and I think this is a fight that he could very well lose. Gonzales has the speed and power advantage over DeGale. Gonzales recently was robbed in his fight against South African Thomas Oosthuizen last year in June in a fight that the judges scored a 10 round draw. Gonzales dominated Oosthuizen and appeared to win 8 of the 10 rounds, yet the judges scored it a draw. DeGale is going to take a lot of punishment from Gonzales, even if he runs from him for 12 rounds. This is a fight he’s going to have a lot of problems with. I mean, DeGale is going from facing god awful competition for the last three years to facing someone who is pretty decent, and that’ a recipe for disaster when you don’t have the skills to compete. DeGale is just a glorified slapper and mover. He’s going to definitely struggle with the fast straight punches that Gonzales likes to throw.



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