By Scott Gilfoid: EBU super middleweight champion James DeGale (13-1, 9 KO’s) reportedly will be fighting #7 WBC Mohammed Ali N’Diaye (22-1, 13 KO’s) next on December 8th at a still to be determined venue. DeGale, 26, wants to stay busy and he is looking to knock off some of the contenders while he bides his time before getting a world title shot next year.

DeGale, however, is going to need improve leaps and bounds if he wants to capture a world title because he looked awful in beating Hadillah Mohoumadi by an unimpressive 12 round decision earlier this month on October 13th. I’m surprised that DeGale is looking to get back in the ring so quickly after that fight because he took an enormous amount of punishment in winning the fight. I had the fight scored a draw, that’s how bad DeGale looked.

It’s hard to say if the Italian based N’Diaye is a step up or a step down from Mohoumadi, because I’m not impressed with the fights I’ve seen of him on Youtube. N’Diaye looks short, wild and not as skilled as Mohoumadi. N’Diaye has only lost one fight in losing to journeyman Lolengo Mock in March of 2008, but he’s also not fought anyone that you could call remotely good. N’Diaye is more of a slapper than anything and very easy to hit.

DeGale should win this fight but he’ll probably take another beating while on the way. N’Diaye doesn’t have a lot of weapons and he’s not as good of a pressure fighter as Mohoumadi, but he’ll slap DeGale enough to give him a hard fight. DeGale is too limited to take care of N’Diaye the way that superior super middleweights would if faced with this encounter.

This is the type of fighter that DeGale should easily beat but, he’s probably not going to because he’s got too many flaws in his game.