By Scott Gilfoid: WBC Silver super middleweight champion James DeGale (18-1, 12 KO’s) stopped challenger Gevorg Khatchikian (20-1, 8 KO’s) in the 11th round on Saturday night at the City Academy Sports Centre, Bristol, Avon, United Kingdom. DeGale dropped the 25-year-old Khatchikian twice in the 11th round with body shots. The fight was halted after Khatchikian sprang back to his feet following the 2nd knockdown. The stoppage was premature in my view because Khatchikian looked fine and ready to continue to fight.

The fight surprisingly a lot tougher than you might have expected it to be, as DeGale was badly marked up around the race with bright red swelling around his right eye. In the 7th round, Khatchikian appeared to hurt DeGale with a hard right uppercut that backed him up against the ropes. Khatchikian then flurried on DeGale for the remainder of the round, punishing him with head and body shots. DeGale did a decent job of eluding most of the shots due to his head movement, but he was still nailed an awful lot.

DeGale started getting to Khatchikian around the 9th round, as he hurt him with some nice shots. In the 10th, DeGale took it easy with Khatchikian by fighting defensively for the entire round instead of looking to finish him off. DeGale probably could have ended things in that round had he wanted to, but he took it easy for some reason. In the 11th, DeGale turned it back on and finished Khatchikian off.

This fight has to make you wonder about DeGale’s talent, because he shouldn’t have been this badly swelled up by a mediocre fighter like this. This fight was way too competitive.