By Tim Royner: Spencer Fearon says the recent hard fights that James ‘Chunky’ DeGale (23-2-1, 14 KOs) has had to endure in the last 2 years of his career has worn him down to the point where he was beaten by Caleb Truax (29-3-2, 18 KOs) in their fight on December 9.
DeGale, 31, was beaten by a 12 round majority decision by Truax in a big upset at the Copper Box Arena in London, UK. DeGale was favored heavily to easily dominate the 34-year-old Truax, who was picked from the No.14 spot in the International Boxing Federation’s rankings for the voluntary title defense for ‘Chunky.’
Truax fought with a lot of heart, and forced DeGale to defend of the ropes in every round. DeGale didn’t have the strength to stand up to Truax’s big power shots when the two of them were in the center of the ring, so he would habitually fall back to the ropes to cover up. This led to DeGale getting hammered badly by Truax.
“Truax was hand-picked,” said Fearon to IFL TV, in explaining the circumstances behind DeGale’s loss to Truax. “Truax was at the right place at the right time. Let’s look at James DeGale. He’s been injured, injured, injured. Look at his back to back fights. James DeGale’s fight with Badou Jack was a hard fight. James DeGale’s fight with Porky Medina was a hard fight. James DeGale’s fight with Lucian Bute was a hard fight. James DeGale winning a world title [against Andre Dirrell] was a hard fight. James DeGale has been in really hard fights back to back to back,” said Fearon.
Fearon makes a lot of sense in explaining why DeGale suddenly looked mortal against Truax. DeGale was involved in 4 hard fights in a row against Andre Dirrell, Lucian Bute, Rogelio Medina and Badou Jack. Those were all fights in which DeGale had to battle hard to win. The final straw for DeGale came when he fought Badou Jack last January to a 12 round draw. That was a fight in which DeGale looked great for the first 6 rounds, but then he fell apart in the last 6 rounds and had to settle or a draw.
It reminded me of how Gerald McCllellan fell apart in his fight with Nigel Benn. DeGale wasn’t the same fighter in the later rounds against Jack. As we saw in DeGale’s fight with Truax, he wasn’t the same guy that gave Jack all he could handle in the first part of their fight earlier this year. What’s unclear is whether Jack took the best out of DeGale, and left him as a depleted fighter. If DeGale is unable to get back to his old form, then you must assume that Jack wore him out and finished his career as a top level fighter.
”You know what happens when you’ve had those back to back hard fights,” said Fearon. ”They take their toll on you. Unfortunately, they seem like they’ve taken a toll on him. Maybe, James DeGale needs to take a mental break from boxing. But I know if he has the desire for it, and the desire is coupled with his skill, James DeGale will still be the best fighter at super middleweight,” said Fearon.
We’re going to soon find out if DeGale’s loss to Truax was a fluke or not. He’s expected to fight Truax in a rematch in the first half of next year. If DeGale loses once again and suffers the same kind of beat down, then it’s perhaps time for him to hang up the gloves and retire. It would be wise for DeGale to take some time off to rest before he faces Truax a second time. If DeGale’s loss to Traux earlier this month was because of the grueling fights he’d recently been in, then it means it’s time for him to take a good long rest. It won’t DeGale to get back in the ring with Traux straightaway in the first part of 2018.
