DeGale impresses while training at the Mayweather gym, brings comparisons to Dirrell and Ward

By Boxing News - 09/09/2011 - Comments

Image: DeGale impresses while training at the Mayweather gym, brings comparisons to Dirrell and WardBy Scott Gilfoid: former British super middleweight champion James DeGale (10-1, 8 KO’s) reportedly impressed a lot of the gym members at the Floyd Mayweather Jr. gym while briefly training there recently, and was compared to world class talents Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell in ability.

Now that’s a great compliment because Dirrell and Ward are probably the two best fighters in the super middleweight division right now. But I already saw DeGale as the number #3 guy in the division behind those two even before this news broke, because DeGale is a special talent and is headed towards world honors. He’s got a fight coming up on October 15th against European Boxing Union (EBU) super middleweight champion Piotr Wilczewski (29-1, 10 KO’s) at the Echo Arena, Liverpool, England.

The EBU title isn’t of consequence. What’s really important in this fight is Wilcewski’s number #2 ranking by the WBO in the super middleweight division. Once DeGale schools Wilcewski and take his title off of him, DeGale will get pushed up the rankings from the number #7 spot where he’s now residing to at least the number #2 spot, if not higher by the WBO. With that ranking, DeGale will be able to exert pressure on the WBO champion to get a fight.

It’s going to be Mikkel Kessler after he defeats the current champion Robert Stieglitz in November. Kessler probably won’t want any part of DeGale and will likely avoid him like the plague. That’s why it’s important that DeGale get as high a ranking as possibly so he can force a fight with Kessler or fight for the vacant title if they have to strip him of his belt for not fighting DeGale.



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