By Scott Gilfoid: An in shape and very animated #1 IBF James DeGale (20-1, 14 KOs) is very confident about his chances of winning the vacant IBF super middleweight title in a little over two weeks from now on May 23rd against #2 IBF Andre Dirrell (24-1, 16 KOs) at the Agganis Arena, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. DeGale is looking forward to fighting on free TV in the United States because he sees it as a great way of getting seen by a lot of American boxing fans.

DeGale is also getting good money for the fight, and he feels really happy about that as well.

“May 23rd, I’m going to make history. Dirrell is not going to know what hit him,” DeGale said via IFL TV.

DeGale definitely talks a good game, but unfortunately there’s a lot more to fighting than just talking about it. In looking at how DeGale has performed in his last 10 fights against soft opponents, I think he’s going to be really out of his league on May 23rd because I don’t see there being any area where he matches up with Dirrell. I mean, we’re clearly talking about levels here, and I see DeGale perching on the lower level than the talented Dirrell. I’m hoping that DeGale can raise his game though so that the fight turns out to be a competitive one, but from the way DeGale has looked in his recent fights against Marco Antonio Periban, Brandon Gonzales and Gevorg Khatchikian, I see this as a real one-sided fight for Dirrell.

In the interview with IFL TV, DeGale seemed almost nervous and out of sorts in talking about the Dirrell fight. I think the pressure already getting to DeGale right now. He’s got to realize by now that he’s facing a more talented fighter than himself, and that a loss to Dirrell is the likely outcome of this fight. A defeat for DeGale will be a huge blow to his career because it’s taken him four years to claw his way back up the rankings after his defeat to George Groves in 2011. That was a shattering loss for DeGale. Now if he loses to Dirrell, it would be a big blow to DeGale’s career because of the time it would take for him to come back from the loss.

For DeGale to have a chance of winning this fight, he’s going to need to find some hand and foot speed because Dirrell is a lot quicker than him.