By Lee Elford: James DeGale (10-0, 8 KO’s) will be fighting more than just George Groves (12-0, 10 KO’s) on May 21st. The majority of us who saw DeGale’s unruly tirade on Ringside and his nose-holding ‘you stink’ antics at the press conference, as well as the not so accurate accusation that Carl Froch knocked him out to his tired and one trick pony ‘ugly ginger kid’ jibes, will be hunched up together in Georges corner like a pack of rabid dogs! It has not served James well that he, as talented as he appears to be, must stir up and pick schoolyard fights in a manner which is both brazen and arrogant, like the un-liked kid that always ended up in detention.

Unfortunately for James DeGale, most are aware there have been genuine CHARACTERS of the sport such as Muhummad Ali, Naseem Hamed and more recently Floyd Mayweather Junior, who each brought their own unique angle of getting under skin and winning fights in the head before they even stepped foot in the ring. Here we have DeGale with 10 fights, a mouth and intellect of an asbo’d 12 year old, an amateur loss to George Groves and an Olympic gold medal. That’s quite a messy situation, an uncertain, unsure CV with lots to prove but seemingly no guidance on how to go about utilizing his obvious raw talent further.

It’s as if DeGale has been kept locked up in a youth offenders unit until he made his pro debut, with no media skills or charisma to earn the nations love and adoration like all of our british boxers have. My point is DeGale could be on a collision course with personal destruction.

That said, DeGale is a genuinely confident boxer, a man with firm self belief and his heart firmly sewn on his sleeve. There are no real psychological flaws to be identified with him as he simply sets the tone and plays his victim like a fiddle. That’s why there are TWO fights between DeGale and Groves. As we have seen, DeGale is the orchestrator. He starts every verbal insult to wind up his opponent and he is doing this to George Groves now. George was right in insisting not to become ‘emotionally involved’ with DeGale as he knows that these kind of messy disrupting events of the past (amateur fight) and present (ugly kid etc) is a side track to throw Groves off his mental preparation.

DeGale knows Groves will always be respectful and right, which is something for DeGale to work on and rile during press conferences and news. I believe DeGale to be immensely confused and scared as we approach May 21st, for all his confidence and brashness he knows this is his first true test in George Groves who is genuinely talented. For DeGale to win he must continue to try and upset Groves in the build-up, a loss for him in this fight would be too much for his mind to handle. For Groves to win he must not become distracted by the Olympic champion beckoning from street level to come and hang out – Achieve this and it will not just be Groves who DeGale fights, but it will be himself as well as thousands watching at home. It’s these elements which will ultimately decide this mega fight between two inexperienced rookies.