Brandon Gonzales sees the James DeGale fight as already won

By Boxing News - 05/28/2014 - Comments

gonzales544By Scott Gilfoid: James DeGale (18-1, 12 KO’s) may have dreams of winning Saturday’s IBF super middleweight eliminator bout against #3 IBF Brandon Gonzales (18-0-1, 11 KO’s) and then getting a payday fight against the Carl Froch vs. George Groves winner that will set himself up for life, but Gonzales already sees DeGale as the loser in his mind due to the hard work that Gonzales has put in with his hard training camp.

Gonzales spent time sparring with WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward, and hours soaking up the wisdom and instructions from his trainer Virgil Hunter in beautiful Oakland, California. Gonzales says that Hunter has given him the perfect game plan to beat DeGale, and he sees the win as a sure thing.

“We’re ready, we’ve had an excellent training camp,” Gonzales said. “We’re extremely confident. As far as the fight goes, it’s already done. We already put the work in. The fight was won weeks ago, and now it’s about putting on display what we’ve been working on. I can’t say James has fought anybody in the division in the top 10. 12 rounds in a fight; we go 13, 14 in the gym. I spar with Andre Ward. I’m prepared for this moment. It’s got to go 12 rounds, and I expect James to take me to the 12th. There’s a chance it could end early; it’s boxing, and anything can happen.”

The way to beat DeGale is one of two ways. You either use a lot of movement with plenty of feints and in and out attacks, like what George Groves did in beating him, or you come straight at DeGale and power through him. Either way can be effective against him. But Gonzales isn’t the type of fighter who uses a lot of movement, and I don’t expect him to be able start using movement for this fight. He’s too slow-footed to use movement, and if he tries to do that for this fight then he’s going to struggle.

The way for Gonzales to beat DeGale is to just go at him and beat him down with straight shots, and smother his offense by staying close to him. If DeGale is forced to fight on the inside for 12 rounds, he’s going to get beaten up, because DeGale can’t fight a lick on the inside. He’s someone that needs to be moving around in the center of the ring against a guy that’s slower than him.



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