By Scott Gilfoid: After having lost his last true contest four years ago to George Groves, 2008 Olympic gold medalist James DeGale (20-1, 14 KOs) believes that he’s destined to beat the 2004 Olympic Bronze medalist Andre Dirrell (24-1, 16 KOs), who lost a narrow decision loss to Gennady Golovkin in the Olympics, in their fight this Saturday night at the Agganis Arena, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

DeGale, 29, thinks this is his big chance to win a world title, and he think he’s going to make history in this fight. I don’t know about that. It would appear that the deck is stacked against DeGale because he’s fighting in the United States, not the UK, and he’s facing a guy who can do all the same things that he can do but much better.

There are some boxing fans who see DeGale as a poor man’s version of Andre Dirrell. In other words, DeGale can move and do the same things as Dirrell, but he’s much slower with his hands and feet, and not as athletically talented or powerful. When you see DeGale fight, it looks like a slow motion replay of the things that Dirrell does, but without the speed and the graceful moves that you see from Dirrell.

“It’s a chance that I can’t let slip; I’m too good,” DeGale said to Skysports.com. “People aren’t going to give me the opportunities again because I’m too good. No one is going to fight me for a voluntary defence so I’ve got to take this chance.”

Oh, I think there are plenty of champions that would be more than willing to give DeGale a chance to fight for their titles. For starters, WBC champ Badou Jack and Andre Ward, the WBA champion. I see both of those guys being open to defending against DeGale, although obviously not after he loses the fight to Dirrell on Saturday night though. The one champion I think that DeGale couldn’t get a fight against is WBO champion Arthur Abraham, but that’s because Abraham has been spending so much time fighting Robert Stieglitz over and over again without the World Boxing Organization stepping in to halt the constant rematches.

Abraham about to fight Stieglitz for the 4th time in two months from now on July 18th. That’s four fights in only three years. That’s pretty incredible that Abraham and Stieglitz have been able to go back and forth like this with the WBO 168lb belt. DeGale would likely never get a chance to fight for the WBO title while Stieglitz and Abraham are playing musical chairs like this.

“History is going to be made, I’m telling you. I’ve trained too hard, I’ve come too far in my career,” DeGale said. “I’m destined to be a world champion. Trust me, history is getting made on the 23rd, next Saturday.”

I don’t think DeGale’s destiny will be realized on Saturday against Dirrell, but I do see DeGale eventually picking up a strap once Abraham retires or gets retired. DeGale is young enough to move forward and pick up the WBO paper strap once the WBO gives him a high enough ranking to where a fight against Abraham or Stiegltiz is actually forced. Aside from that, I don’t see DeGale winning a world title.

DeGale is not going to be able to beat Dirrell, Jack or Andre Ward in my view. I see those fighters as too talented for him. But if the WBO eventually gives him a better ranking than No.5, which is where they have him ranked right now, he’ll eventually get a title shot at the WBO belt. The problem is that once he loses to Dirrell on Saturday, DeGale’s ranking with the WBO will likely drop. This means it will probably take DeGale two to three years before the WBO pushes him to No.1, if they ever do.