By Alex Hedges: In 2010, British boxing fans witnessed one young prospect progress at a rate unmatched by any of his peers. Where many of Britain’s heralded prospects were either outclassed on the big stage, (Kevin Mitchell vs Michael Katsidis) or simply failed to impress when given an opportunity, (Nathan Cleverly vs Nadjib Mohammedi), DeGale looked Impressive throughout the year, and stepped up when given his biggest opportunity to-date.
The year started off slowly enough for James, a second round TKO over Matthew Barr (14-5) in February, this was followed by a 5th round TKO of Sam Horton (15-1) in May. While decent wins for a rookie pro fighter, these were really a taster of what was to come later in the year.
In September, DeGale stepped up to face Carl Dilks (14-2). A fair few people thought this step up in durability may have come a little too soon for James, as it was a 10 round fight against a decent domestic fighter who had never been stopped, in fact Dilks had been 12 rounds with Charles Adamu, a man who had run Carl Froch close a few years ago, there were questions if DeGale had developed the stamina required to win late rounds. As it was these questions were not answered, Degale stopped Dilks with ease in the first round.
Then, in early December, James Degale stepped into the ring with Liverpool hero, Paul Smith (29-1). Known to overseas audiences from his brief stint on “The Contender” reality T.V show, Paul was the current British Super Middle Weight Champion. A veteran of some tough domestic wars, 148 rounds and 7 years of professional boxing, Smith had never been stopped in a fight, and had gone the 12 round distance in his last two fights. Degale stopped Smith in the 9th round after a dominant, mature performance in what, for me, was the best performance by a British prospect in 2010.
Frank Warren, who is the promoter for James DeGale, has a difficult task ahead of him in 2011. Fans are going to want to see DeGale pushed forward, in fact many people are talking about him fighting the likes of Lucian Bute, Arthur Abraham, Andre Dirrell and others. The problem is, James has not yet faced any real adversity in the ring, if matched with fighters of this caliber, how would James react if things were not going his way? It is usually not a good idea, to send a young prospect in against a seasoned, world class campaigner so early in his career.
I would like to see James moved along at a comfortable pace, while he has demonstrated maturity, and a wealth of skill and intelligence in the ring, I think it is too soon to match him with the elite of the division, at the same time though, fans will not tolerate James taking a step down from Smith in opposition. Some fighters that I wouldn’t mind seeing James take on would be Jesse Brinkley, Brian Magee, Jeff Lacy or even an interesting bout with Lolenga Mock, the super middleweight who floored WBA Heavyweight champion David Haye a few years ago.
One of these fights, followed perhaps, by a British super-fight with George Groves, would be a great test to see where James is at, compared to the better known, more seasoned campaigners. If he were to beat Brinkley, followed by Groves, in style, then I think a fight with Robert Stieglitz (the WBO champion) would be the best option, late in 2011.
Comments are closed.