By Scott Gilfoid: James DeGale (19-1, 13 KO’s) defeated Brandon Gonzales last Saturday night in their IBF super middleweight eliminator bout, but now DeGale is left with a situation where he very likely still won’t be getting a world title shot against IBF belt holder Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KO’s), as Froch has already said that he has an optional title defense coming up next and that he wants to follow his dream of fighting under the big lights in Las Vegas, Nevada.
DeGale is now looking at a situation where he’ll likely need to wait until 2015 before he gets a title shot at the IBF belt, and even then it might not be against Froch, because his promoter Eddie Hearn said today that the belts no longer mean anything to Froch. He’s now looking for the fights that will bring the biggest paydays and that will motivate him the most.
It’s debatable whether a fight against DeGale will bring in the big money Froch just saw last Saturday night against George Groves, and it doesn’t look like Froch is motivated at the idea of fighting DeGale. If he was, he wouldn’t have said that he has an optional title defense coming up.
“The question is does Carl Froch want to fight me? I’m not too sure, but I’m in a fantastic position now,” DeGale said to Skysports.com. “I’m in the mandatory spot so he has to fight me within 120 days. I think he wants to go to Vegas to fight Chavez or another American. That’s his dream so if he decides to do that, (and) he vacates the belt, then I’m next in line and I get to fight for the vacant title.”
Froch just finished fighting two mandatory challengers, so it’s quite possible that DeGale is incorrect about Froch having to fight him within 120 days or else risk being stripped. It’s more likely that DeGale is going to have to cool his heels while waiting for a shot at the IBF belt, be it against Froch or whoever if he vacates.
DeGale could very well get a title shot against one of the other title holders, such as Sakio Bika or Arthur Abraham. DeGale’s promoter Eddie Hearn said today to IBF TV that DeGale definitely will be getting a world title shot in his next fight, but he’s not sure whether it’ll be Froch or one of the other champions.
Hearn promotes DeGale, and so he’s going to be looking out for his interests by trying to get him a world title. If DeGale can win a world title, it’ll set up a fight against Froch in 2015 with both fighters having world titles in their possession.
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