By Jeff Aranow: Caleb Truax (29-3-2. 18 KOs) says he could be defending his IBF super middleweight title against former champion James DeGale (23-2-1, 14 KOs) in a rematch in March or April.
Truax will find out for sure when or if the rematch with the 31-year-old DeGale will be taking place.
Truax beat DeGale by a 12 round majority decision this month on December 9 at the Copper Box Arena in London, England. The judges scored the fight 116-112, 115-114 for Truax, and 114-114 even. Boxing News 24 saw it as a one-sided win for Truax. It wasn’t a close fight like the scores would indicate.
Truax would like to face one of the other super middleweight champions in a unification fight if possible. However, it’s unlikely that any of the current 168 lb. champions will want to face him in the foreseeable future by early 2018. The rematch with DeGale is an easy match to make, so it’s likely going to happen next.
”I think they’re talking about doing the rematch with DeGale; that would be coming up pretty quickly in March or April,” said Truax to Fighthype.com. ”I should get word about that after the holidays. I’m down for that or I’m open to unifications.”
Truax could possibly fight WBO champion Gilberto Ramirez or WBA 168 lb. champion Tyron Zeuge in a unification fight. However, those aren’t popular fighters. The money that Traux would get fighting the likes of Zeuge or Ramirez likely wouldn’t be enough for the risk involved. Truax would be better off taking the rematch with DeGale, who is said to have had a rematch clause in his contract for the Truax fight on December 9.
If that’s indeed true, then the only way Truax could temporarily swerve the DeGale rematch would be a unification fight. Unfortunately, the popular super middleweights George Groves and Chris Eubank Jr. are both tied up in the World Boxing Super Series tournament. WBC champion David Benavidez lacks the popularity for a fight between him and Truax to be a big money fight.
”I’ll let my promoter at Warriors and Al Haymon sort everything else out and choose the right path for me because I know they’ll make the decision that benefits me,” said Traux. ”I got no problem going back over there, man.”
Traux would make some good money fighting the winner of the World Boxing Super Series tournament. The tournament isn’t going to be done before Truax’s next fight. That means he’s going to need to take the rematch with DeGale, which will probably take pace in England again. If Truax can do the job against DeGale a second time, then that would put him in position to fight the winner of the WBSS against the likes of Groves, Eubank Jr., Callum Smith or Juergen Braehmer.
DeGale doesn’t have much choice. He has to fight Truax again, because he’s not going to get a lot of money as the challenger against the winner of the WBSS tournament. DeGale was a big favorite to beat Truax. DeGale says he lost because of his shoulder problem. If that’s true, then he should fight a lot better in the rematch. If it’s another problem, such as DeGale being over-the-hill, then he’ll take another beating by Truax and lose once again.