By Scott Gilfoid: James DeGale (10-1, 8 KO’s) thinks a rematch between him and British and Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves (13-0, 10 KO’s) will be happening in early 2012 if everything does right with their next fights coming up.

DeGale fights EBU super middleweight champion Piotr Wilczewski )29-1, 10 KO’s) on October 15th on the undercard of Nathan Cleverly vs. Tony Bellew at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. DeGale is expected to win that fight and then defend it for the first time in December.

Speaking with the BBC Sport, DeGale said “I’m going to be a bit more chilled and hold my mouth a bit more. George Groves taught me a lesson [not to talk so much]. I’ve never known him to be so negative. I’ll give him a bit of credit. I think [we’ll fight] in the early part of next year, I really do. If everything goes right, I’ll fight again in December. If I win this time and look good, I think the early part of next year. I’ll have the European title, and please, God, he’ll still have the British and Commonwealth titles. There’s no one for him to fight apart from me.”

DeGale is right. Groves doesn’t have a lot of options for appealing money-making fights holding the British and Commonwealth straps. The money fight for him is a rematch with DeGale, and needs to take the fight if he wants to get a nice payday. I see Groves losing the fight. I thought the decision Groves won against DeGale last May was very questionable. I had DeGale winning that fight by two rounds, but I can certainly understand how the judges gave the fight to Groves because he had the crowd fully behind him in that fight. They basically cheered every time Groves would even lift his gloves to try and throw.

DeGale was booed from the start to the finish of the fight, and I think maybe his trash talking he did going into the fight really hurt him. Had this bout taken place outside of the UK where fans don’t know who these guys are, DeGale would have won. He was the one making the fight in the 2nd half because Groves was mainly running and just looking to spoil instead of mix it up.