Froch: DeGale has to fight somebody else before trying to fight me

By Boxing News - 06/04/2014 - Comments

degale778By Scott Gilfoid: James DeGale (19-1, 13 KO’s) thought he had earned a shot against IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KO’s) when he stopped Brandon Gonzales (18-1-1, 10 KO’s) in the 4th round last Saturday night in their IBF super middleweight eliminator bout at Wembley Stadium, but I guess not. According to Froch, DeGale still has some hoops he needs to jump through before he’ll agree to fight him.

Froch wants DeGale to take on and beat someone else, because he feels that DeGale loss to George Groves three years ago means that he’s still not really worthy of a title shot. Froch whipped Groves last Saturday by an 8th round knockout, and for Froch, that’s reason enough not to waste time fighting DeGale.

“George Groves beat James DeGale and I’ve just absolutely annihilated George Groves so that’s not a fight fight,” Froch said to Skysports.com. “James DeGale needs to earn his stripes and fight somebody else before he thinks about fighting me.”

If Froch doesn’t fight DeGale within the next 9 months, he’s going to be stripped of his IBF title. I’m not sure that Froch will lose any sleep over that, but that’s a reality that will be coming soon if Froch doesn’t defend against him.

I don’t know precisely DeGale could fight right now that would pass muster for Froch. If DeGale just chooses some top contender, I doubt it’ll satisfy Froch unless he takes on someone talented like Edwin Rodriguez, Andre Ward or the Dirrell brothers. But I think all those guys would beat DeGale, and I doubt that his promoter Eddie Hearn would even consider putting him in with talents like that.

I do agree with Froch about DeGale needing to fight someone with a pulse because Brandon Gonzales wasn’t nearly good enough for him to get a title shot. The International Boxing Federation really threw a bone to DeGale by letting him fight Gonzales for the IBF eliminator bout instead of someone with a real chance of beating him like Edwin Rodriguez and the Dirrell brothers.

DeGale needs to step it up a level now to take on a talented fighter before he starts talking Froch fight. At least that way fans will actually be interested in seeing a Froch-DeGale fight, because right now I think there’s no way on earth that they’d sell out Wembley Stadium for a fight like that.



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