By Scott Gilfoid: James DeGale (20-1, 14 KOs) says he’ll be targeting all the other super middleweight titles once he beats American Andre Dirrell (24-1, 16 KOs) this Saturday night on Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on NBC from Boston. MA. Just for the sake of entertaining DeGale’s fantasy of him beating Dirrell on Saturday, DeGale will need to beat the likes of Andre Ward, Arthur Abraham and the winner of the Badou Jack vs. George Groves fight.

It’s a pretty tall order if I do say so. Beating Dirrell will be a major accomplishment for DeGale, because he doesn’t appear to have the talent to do that. He’s not as fast as Dirrell, not as talented, not as big of a puncher, and not as experienced. Any way you want to look at it, DeGale looks second best when compared to Dirrell.

“The belt means everything to me and more,” DeGale said. “I am here to make history and it doesn’t happen without that title. I could win on Saturday night and retire a happy man – that’s how much I want to beat Andre Dirrell. But when I do win that title, I am going for the rest of the belts, creating a lasting legacy for my country, my fans and myself.”

Honestly, DeGale has sounded like a broken record for the last three weeks due to him repeating the same thing over and over again about him out to make history by capturing the IBF super middleweight title. If DeGale were to do that, he’d be the first fighter from the UK who won both a gold medal in the Olympics and a world title. For some reason, no one has ever done that from the UK. Somehow I think that after Saturday night, it’s something that will still not have been accomplished.

“It’s going to be a brutal battle – and one that I am going to win,” DeGale said.
I really don’t think this is going to be a brutal battle at all. I think Dirrell is going to make DeGale miss all night long, and make him look really, really bad in the ring. For the fight to be brutal, Dirrell would need to stand in front of DeGale and the two of them would need to trade shots. But even if Dirrell stood in front of DeGale, we’d see DeGale use movement because that’s what he does when his opponents stand in front of him.