Will DeGale fight Golovkin next?

By Boxing News - 05/24/2015 - Comments

degale66By Scott Gilfoid: After his win over Andre Dirrell (24-2, 16 KOs), James DeGale (21-1, 14 KOs), who is now the IBF super middleweight champion, said that he’d be interested in facing Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) next when he gets in the ring in the next four months.

Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler at K2 Promotions are interested in a much bigger fight against British star Carl Froch. However, it still isn’t clear whether Froch fancies the job.

Even his own promoter Eddie Hearn isn’t sure if Froch will get off the couch to take the dangerous bout. If the Froch-Golovkin fight doesn’t happen, then that puts DeGale into the spotlight to see if he’ll backup his words by pushing Hearn to make the fight with the huge punching Golovkin.

Personally, I think DeGale and Hearn should do the right thing and give Dirrell a rematch due to the controversy surrounding the outcome of that fight. But that isn’t going to happen unfortunately. If DeGale isn’t going to give Dirrell a rematch, then he should definitely look to face Golovkin next if Froch doesn’t take the fight, which I don’t think he will.

It’s a waste of time to match DeGale against a couple of old timers like Mikkel Kessler or Lucian Bute, not because they’re up there in age, but more so because neither guy is relevant any longer. The guys aren’t staying active, and that’s why it’s beneath DeGale to defend the IBF title against them. I would feel the same way if Froch or Dirrell were the IBF title holder at this time. Bute and Kessler just don’t rate a title shot. But Golovkin definitely does.

It’s going to be interesting to see if DeGale steps up and takes the Golovkin fight like he was yapping about, or if he that just him name calling to get attention. I imagine Hearn might give DeGale some resistance if he decides he wants to fight Golovkin, because I think Hearn has got to know that DeGale doesn’t match-up with a talent like Golovkin.

A fight between Golovkin and DeGale wouldn’t have any judges playing a part in the final outcome in my view. I don’t see that happening. No doubt the judges will be there, but you might as well give them some popcorn and a soda because they won’t be the deciding factor in who wins that fight like they were last Saturday with DeGale’s win over Dirrell. Golovkin will be looking to make sure the judges have nothing to do with the outcome for his fight against DeGale.

At the end of the day, I see Hearn steering DeGale into safer waters and keeping him away from Golovkin in 2015, 2016 and beyond. I don’t see him letting his “champion” take on someone who could cruelly knock him out and take his IBF strap from him. In the best of worlds, DeGale and Hearn would take the fight against Golovkin because it would potentially turn DeGale into a big star if he were to beat Golovkin. But in the real world, I see DeGale going towards a nice soft fight against an older guy that no longer has it, and can’t give him any real resistance.



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