Callum Smith: I’ll be champion by next year

10/28/2016 by Boxing News

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By Scott Gilfoid: #1 WBC contender Callum Smith (21-0, 16 KOs) believes he’s got the style to defeat IBF super middleweight champion James “Chunky” DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs) when or if the two of them face each other in 2017. Never the less, Smith, 26, believes he’ll defeat DeGale or WBC 168lb champion Badou Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs) to become a world champion by next year.

Smith has to wait a little bit longer before he gets that shot, as DeGale and Jack are facing each other early next year on January 14 in a unification match on Showtime Boxing at a still to be determined venue in the U.S.

DeGale: I see weakness in Golovkin

10/27/2016 by Boxing News

By Scott Gilfoid: IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs) is looking past his scheduled unification fight against WBC champion Badou Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs) towards a much desired fight on his part against the talented IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) that he’s hoping to get in 2017. DeGale still has a fight against Badou on January 17 he needs to get past first in the U.S, and there’s no telling how that match will wind up.

Golovkin hasn’t spoken of wanting to move up to 168 to fight the likes of DeGale or Badou Jack. There has been talk from WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez’s promoter Bob Arum of him wanting to match his fighter against Golovkin in 2017, but there’s no real interest in his part in taking the fight due to Ramirez not being a big name in the U.S.

DeGale: I’m the No.1 super middleweight on the planet!

10/27/2016 by Boxing News

By Scott Gilfoid: IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs) is about to take a TREMENDOUS risk with his career in facing WBC 168lb champion Badou Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs) in a unification match on January 14 on Showtime Boxing at a still to be determined venue in the U.S.

DeGale, 30, believes that he’s the best fighter in the 168lb division despite the fact that he struggled BADLY in his recent fights against Rogelio Mendez, Lucian Bute and Andre Dirrell. Those were not the performances that you would expect to see from someone blabbering about how he’s the best in the super middleweight division.

James DeGale vs. Badou Jack on January 14

10/25/2016 by Boxing News

By Eric Baldwin: Showtime Boxing has confirmed that IBF super middleweight champion James “Chunky” DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs) will be fighting a unification match against WBC 168lb champion Badou Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs) on January 14, 2017 on Showtime at a still to be determined venue. The two fighters fought earlier this year on April 30 on Showtime from the Armory in Washington, DC, and it was thought that they would soon be facing each other.

Unfortunately, it’s taken a little longer than anyone expected it to take for the two of them to fight. By the time DeGale and Jack meet up in January, 2017, they’ll both have been outside of the ring for nine months. That’s a long time for world champions to be outside of the ring.

Britain and their Great champions?

10/19/2016 by Gavin Duthie

By Gav Duthie: At one point earlier this year the UK celebrated having 14 world champions at the same time making it arguably the best boxing country pound for pound. Within the last month 3 have fallen in Anthony Crolla (To Jorge Linares), Liam Smith who lost to Canelo and Tyson Fury who relinquished his WBA and WBO titles due to depression and allegations of drug taking, both performance enhancing and recreational. Recently one of the UK’s best in Carl Frampton said that although the number of champions were great he didn’t feel they were all true champions. This piece discusses the 11 world champions who remain and how long they might be champions for.

Anthony Joshua 17-0 (17)

AJ is the current IBF champion but its possible that the WBA and WBO titles could be on the line if he faces Wladimir Klitschko on December 10. Whether he wins or not depends on at what stage of his career you feel The 40 year old Wlad is now. For me Wlad was confused against Fury after finally facing someone taller, with a longer reach and he couldn’t dictate the pace. Joshua will come to fight and be easier to hit. I don’t think Wlad is finished just yet so I pick him to knock Joshua out. If the fight doesn’t come off he will likely defend against someone like Bermaine Stiverne and keep his title a bit longer.

Golovkin’s promoter targeting Saunders, Eubank and DeGale

09/13/2016 by Boxing News

By Scott Gilfoid: Tom Loeffler, the promoter for IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin wants to bring him back to the UK in the near future to match him against one of the following British fighters: Billy Joe Saunders, Chris Eubank Jr. and James DeGale. Golovkin has already been ordered by the World Boxing Association to defend his title against WBA ‘regular’ middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs within 120 days, so that looks like it’s going to be happening next for Golovkin.

If Golovkin gets past Jacobs, then there’s a possibility that he could be coming back to the UK to fight the likes of Saunders, Eubank or DeGale. Saunders is the first priority for Golovkin, because he’ the WBO middleweight champion, and that’s the last remaining 160lb title not in Golovkin’s possession. He would like to win that belt so that he can have all the titles in his possession.

Cotto vs. Bradley or Kirkland possible for December

08/19/2016 by Boxing News

By Dan Ambrose: Miguel Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) is still looking to lockdown an opponent for his next fight in December. The two options that are being talked about for the 35-year-old Cotto right now is James Kirkland (32-2, 28 KOs) and Tim Bradley (32-2-1, 13 KOs).

Yuriorkis Gamboa recently revealed that he’s a possibility too for Cotto’s next fight on HBO pay-per-view, but that’s just so hard to believe that the former four division world champion would go that route in selecting a super featherweight to fight. However, Cotto has shown interest recently in fighting former featherweight Juan Manuel Marquez and former WBA lightweight champion Brand Rios.

James DeGale vs. Badou Jack negotiations close to done

08/16/2016 by Boxing News

By Scott Gilfoid: The negotiations for the unification fight between IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs) and WBC 168lb champion Badou Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs) is close to getting done for a match that will be taking place in Badou’s home city of Las Vegas, Nevada.

DeGale, 30, doesn’t mind that he’ll be fighting in Badou’s hometown of Las Vegas, as he believes he’s going to win without any problems. The fact that both guys looked pretty much the same against a common opponent in Lucian Bute suggests that this fight will be anything but easy for DeGale. He might very well lose, especially with the fight being staged in Las Vegas.

Groves wants rematch against DeGale

08/15/201608/15/2016 by Boxing News

By Scott Gilfoid: George Groves is finally showing interest in giving James DeGale a rematch five years after beating him by a controversial 12 round majority decision in 2011 in London, England. A lot has changed since then, as Groves has suffered two knockout losses to Carl Froch and a 12 round split decision defeat to Badou Jack last year.

Groves, #2 WBC, #4 WBO, #10 IBF, is in position to get a title shot in the near future against champions Badou Jack and Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez. However, Groves’ chances of winning those fights aren’t so good. Further, the money that Groves would make for fights against Jack and Ramirez likely isn’t as good as what he would make in a fight against DeGale. As such, you can understand why Groves would want to suddenly fight DeGale.

Heck, if Groves doesn’t fight DeGale to get a nice cash out fight, then he’s soon going to be getting beaten by Badou Jack or Ramirez. Whichever of those guys that Groves fights, he’s likely to lose.

Froch thinks DeGale would be easy fight for him

07/04/201607/02/2016 by Boxing News

By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF/WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KOs) turned 39-years-old two days ago on July 2, and he sees there being no reason for him to make a comeback to resume his boxing career at this point.

Froch hasn’t fought in two years since 2014, and he sees the 168lb division being a poor one at this time. He thinks if he came back right now, he would easily defeat the current IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs), who Froch chose not to fight last year in February 2015.

Froch vacated his IBF title rather than face DeGale, who was his mandatory challenger at the time. That move led many boxing fans to regard Froch as being scared of DeGale due to the ducking type of move he had made. Froch subsequently retired soon after without fighting anyone.