By William Mackay: James DeGale’s stay busy fight with little known 2nd tier fighter Jose Maria Guerrero (29-2-1, 11 KO’s) has been moved from this Friday, December 9th to next year on January 27th at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England.

The fight was hardly being talked about or looked forward to by boxing fans, as it’s not exactly a mouth-watering fight. DeGale, 25, is merely staying busy after winning a controversial 12 round majority decision over EBU super middleweight champion Piotr Wilczewski in his last bout in October.

DeGale looked like he hadn’t improved at all from his loss to George Groves and took a lot of really heavy shots from a guy that’s not much of a puncher. DeGale needs to make some major changes in his game if he wants to get to the next level, as Wilczewski and Groves really exposed DeGale’s lack of power, defense and foot speed.

DeGale plods too much and is slow in cutting off the ring. DeGale tends to walk flat-footed and his legs seem very heavy. It’s doubtful DeGale will be able to improve on his foot speed any as he ages. DeGale’s lack of power will be his biggest problem. He’s little more than a slapper super middleweight and he’ll continue to have problems when he eventually steps up and tries to take on another world class opponent.

I can’t see DeGale winning a major title at super middleweight due to his many flaws, but if he can lose baby fat he might be able to win a belt in the weakened middleweight division.

As far as DeGale’s fight against Guerrero goes, this should be fairly easy for him. Guerrero, 34, has rarely fought in the past six years and was knocked out by someone named Mamuka Knhutuashvili (5-6-1, 1 KO’s) in 2005.