By Sean McDaniel: Unbeaten British super middleweight champion James DeGale (10-0, 8 KO’s) just finished sparring 30 tough rounds with WBO light heavyweight interim champion Nathan Cleverly (21-0, 10 KO’s) last week in preparation for the 25-year-old DeGale’s May 21st bout against unbeaten Commonwealth super middleweight title holder George Groves (12-0, 10 KO’s) at the O2 Arena in Greenwich, London, England. Cleverly also fights on the card and will be facing WBO light heavyweight champion Jurgen Braehmer.

The Groves fight is the beginning of bigger things for DeGale, as he plans on tackling world class competition in the near future and Groves is one of the last few domestic level opponents that DeGale will be facing before he starts taking on better opponents at the world level.

In speaking in his weekly diary at frankwarren.tv, DeGale said “Cleverly was great preparation for Groves. I recon he’s [Cleverly] quicker and punches harder, so after facing him, May 21 should be an easy night’s work. I was impressed with Nathan and he’s definitively a very good fighter.”

The sparring between DeGale and Cleverly was very competitive with neither fighter really establishing himself as the better of the two. Of course, this was with head gear and large gloves on and not nearly the same thing that both of them would be facing if they were going at in inside of a ring in a real fight. DeGale might be a little better fighter because of his ability to box, fight relaxed and throw combinations. A bout between Cleverly and DeGale may be a real possibility in the future after DeGale starts making a name for himself on the world level.

Groves has his work cut out for him in this fight against DeGale. Groves has no head movement, and is very easy to hit. He’s not as smooth as DeGale and seems to load up with everything he throws. DeGale will be a problem for him as their fight winds down into the later rounds.