Degale looking quite average so far

I am not too impressed with Degale he does not look like a top level fighter to me.

Looks like the Groves loss has gone in one ear and out the other.

he's proving he's got a good chin, but thats about it!

Can't believe they're making out like it's a good thing Degale is showing he has a decent chin! How about moving your bloody head, horse-face?!?

What round is it and how do you score it so far?

Ignore last post, fights on live on box nation website

Ninth, haven't been scoring it but I think it was about 4-2 after 6, to the Pole. Think Degale OS upping the pace a bit now and nicking rounds. Enzo Macc has it 6-3 for horse-face.

I have always had the feeling that he was a massive Warren hype job and too many fell for it, on this performance i was right. A top level fighter would have destroyed him tonight far too easy to hit, nothing more than decent handspeed and his footwork is painfully average.
Still with Jim McDonnell coming out with words of wisdom like "you gotta win James" maybe he will prove me wrong.

He's looked pretty bog average tonight, although I suppose his opponent does have over twice the fights.

we are being harsh on him, how many fights does degale have - 12? and he looks like being the new euro champ.

its easy to forget that sometimes.

Fair result

He has that as an excuse but he's the one who's been saying he's read for world honours. He ain't. He REALLY ain't. The S6 guys would walk through him.

I thought DeGale did well. Only his 12th pro fight against a durable, experienced 12 round fighter. Had a couple of hairy moments around the 4/5th but showed a sound chin, also showed heart and a good workrate. Has handspeed and puts his punches together well, he needs to be more evasive against the right hand and I question whether his power will get him enough respect at 168 (he claims he can make 160 if needed). Think because he's fought Smith and Groves so early in his career people expect more from him than any other 12 fight pro, but that was a tough opponent for a guy with DeGales limited experience and a good win IMO.

Congrats to him on becoming European champ.

Trussmans golden child took a beating there. I had it a draw. Not quality fighter everyone was making him out to be after Smith. Took far too many punches. He would have been ko'd. If the pole had a dig

It's a good point Sugar about being only his 12th fight.

Give him credit for turning the tide after the mid rounds, he really dug in showed good heart. He looks impressive going forward when he commits to shots and decent speed.

However, for one so mouthy, his defensive is poor and is needs way more learning before shouting off about world titles.

I wonder how much these last two fights will take out of him? If anything.

He needs a new trainer. It's becoming a bit concerning now for someone who rates themselves so highly

Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn wrote:He needs a new trainer. It's becoming a bit concerning now for someone who rates themselves so highly

without a doubt

yeah when he was rocked around i think 4 or 5 my mind skipped to audley but i think in a similar fashion to groves he got rocked but came back well. easy to forget hes very early in his pro careerand beating legitimate euro level guys is good needs to take on more euro level opposition before world honours because looking at this right now kessler would eat him for breakfast. most certainly not a dud he will be class but may fall short of p4p glory

Cant see a single thing about him that makes me think he is anything but a European level fighter, he does a few things well but nothing outstanding only Frank Warrens relentless hype job has made people think otherwise.

The win was deserved, Degale took some big shots but had enough by the end of it.

People are still being incredibly harsh on him. Degale is still barely more than ten fights into his career, was coming off the back of a loss and rightly beat a weathered 30-fight veteran. He's taken risks, fought some names early and has a loss for his troubles, what more would you want of him? If he hadn't I'd be willing to bet more pessimists would be playing the old cherry-picker with a padded record card.

If you get undeserving european title shots off the back of a defeat due to having an over influential promoter and act like your the second coming of Ali you got to expect to be judged harshly when you dont live up to your own boasts.

hogey wrote:If you get undeserving european title shots off the back of a defeat due to having an over influential promoter and act like your the second coming of Ali you got to expect to be judged harshly when you dont live up to your own boasts.

Pretty much. Degale's brought much of the negative press on himself.

So who is "deserving" for a Euro title shot? Groves? He chose Paul Smith who Degale has already stopped. In any case can we really say Degale didn't deserve the shot considering he won the title quite clearly?

If things were the opposite to now and people only just discovered Degale and his exploits thus far I say they'd be fairly impressed. As it is many are as intent on disliking him as they have been towards Khan in the past and use that as an excuse to neglect Degale's positives.

He hasn't done himself any favours in the limelight, I'll say that much and no, he hasn't delivered word for word on his claims but who does? As Bellew showed tonight, blatant disrespect and arrogance are sometimes necessary for a fighter to inspire the best of himself. Would you take that away?

My problem with him is that he really is not as good as he thinks he is and Frank Warren wants us to believe he is. I watched him in his last 2 fights against a higher level of opposition and i dont see anything outstanding about him at all. Now his opponents are fighting back he looks quite average to be honest with no more than reasonable power, his hand speed is nothing special, shoddy defence and his footwork aint great. I cant imagine any top level fighters are laying in bed worrying about Degale tonight, sadly i am sure uncle Frank will get him a WBO title shot any day soon.

he will be a world champion but how much further i have no idea and after 12 fights no ond does.

I've not seen so much bitterness since seeing Georgie Best interviewed!

Degale clearly took the Euro title in his 12th fight. He pretty much handled the fight against a seasoned pro. It was too early for him, but he won. I would like to see him get some experience and fight some Euro level fighters. No doubt the numpties on here will criticise him for not fighting Vlad K.. etc. etc. but he beat an apponent who was way above his level at this stage. He needs some good learning fights before fighting anybody at world level.

Hogey, you're a tool. He's still a 12 fight novice. Judge him after another 8 or so fights. I am reserving my opinion till then. Unless you can name any other 12 fight novices with a Euro title?

couldnt be more right happytravelling

Less of the childish insults please Happytravelling not really needed on here, i am basing my opinion on the fact he was judged good enough to fight for the European title and is talking about world title shots if he wants to be judged as a novice then he should tone himself down a bit. I cant remember too many fighters gifted with a European title shot coming off a defeat and only 12 fights either still Frank Warren has the money to make these things happen that other promoters cant.

hogey wrote:Less of the childish insults please Happytravelling not really needed on here, i am basing my opinion on the fact he was judged good enough to fight for the European title and is talking about world title shots if he wants to be judged as a novice then he should tone himself down a bit. I cant remember too many fighters gifted with a European title shot coming off a defeat and only 12 fights either still Frank Warren has the money to make these things happen that other promoters cant.

Its not Degale's fault he got offered the chance, whats he suppose to do, turn it down? He'd get slaughtered if he did.

Not saying he did anything wrong taking the fight if you are given a chance even if as in this case its undeserved then you have to take it, i just think if you start fighting at that level then you need to be judged accordingly and for my money when the Warren hype is striped away from the surface, below lurks a decent but not particularly special fighter.

But Hogey, you also have to judge Degale according to were he is in his career, 12th fight against an experienced guy, coming off a loss, little low on confidence maybe. I thought he did well, recated to the Pole's smart game plan but better than he reacted to Groves gameplan, and showed he's got plenty of bottle aswell.

Showed some guts and plenty of heart and also some flashes of nice work on the inside, but i didnt see too much else to get excited about he seemed to make the same mistakes over and over again which left him wide open to shots. The Pole though a trier was not much more than a one dimensional plodder and better fighers would have took him to pieces after having a round or 2 to work him out.

I know we can look at the fact he's only had 12 fights, but even if his had 20 fights if he doesn't sort those defensive flaws out he can't keep shipping punches like last night.Either he hasn't been taught to defend properly or he isn't listening to his camp if its the first one then needs to change trainers to sort his defense out.

the same thing happened with Groves against Anderson, inexperienced fighters will make mistakes, they will take those mistakes back to the gym and try and iron them out, it takes time, and its way, way too early to judge the lad indefinately

Day V Lately wrote:the same thing happened with Groves against Anderson, inexperienced fighters will make mistakes, they will take those mistakes back to the gym and try and iron them out, it takes time, and its way, way too early to judge the lad indefinately

Bang on. Could not be more correct, fact is he has beaten a guy who had fought over 30 fights, was an experienced guy was very tough, bit better than the average tough plodder I thought but not too much, seemed like a John Murray type of fighter he had a difficult time but ultimately came through and showed that he definately has the heart to come through the tough times. 12 fights in, not been matched easily at all, had a couple of journeyman but been in with tough domestic opposition like Smith, his rival Groves and a very tough Euro fighter, compare this to most of the other guys that were coming up and it looks like a strong CV already. Khan was down and nearly out of it agaisnt Limond, he's having a fantastic career... Silly to disregard his clear skill, in flashes he is amazing, just needs to iron out the mistakes he makes like Khan has for the most part. degale is very good.

Agreed Alex, there were occassions in the fight were you could tell the confidence was coming back, and he looked good, on other occasions he got caught, like you said it'll happen. Was a good nights boxing all in all, but seems to be a lot of negitivety about the gaff today, mainly Trussman induced mind!

Degale looked as though he hasn't altered a single thing since the Groves fight. He still throws too many slappy punches that connect with the inside of the glove, why the flip does he do that?? Winds me up no end.

He really does look like he has something about him but his style is just..... I dunno. It's not for me.

If he gets a world title shot before the olympics like he wants it'll be against one of the weakest out there. No way will Warren put him in with any of the top calibre fighters on that sort of showing.

He threw far more punches than the single shots against Groves, made sure he won rounds clearly by backing up his work, that was at least one change.

The only reason he could throw more punches against the very static Pole was because he was allowed to, Groves boxing skill and better footwork meant he was restricted to the single shots. I think it is pretty obvious that Warren will get him a title shot quick before he loses again but Kessler (likely to become WBO champ next month) Froch, Ward and Bute will all eat him for breakfast. Being No3 in Britain is very different than fighting the top men and as powerful as Warren is in boxing he cant do the fighting for Degale once the hype stops and the bell rings.

I scored the fight a draw...Degale is overrrated and one dimensional...NEVER bought into the hype like some people

hogey wrote:The only reason he could throw more punches against the very static Pole was because he was allowed to, Groves boxing skill and better footwork meant he was restricted to the single shots. I think it is pretty obvious that Warren will get him a title shot quick before he loses again but Kessler (likely to become WBO champ next month) Froch, Ward and Bute will all eat him for breakfast. Being No3 in Britain is very different than fighting the top men and as powerful as Warren is in boxing he cant do the fighting for Degale once the hype stops and the bell rings.

well that doesnt say much for Groves given the score in their fight then, he was busier, more willing to throw combos and come in on the inside, I'm not saying he did them perfectly, but he did show an awareness to do these things after the Groves fight, if he fights Groves again, Groves will have to employ a very different gameplan, which I'm not convinced he can.

I honestly think Groves will beat him quite comfortably in a rematch, especially if he saw how easy Degale can be hit and this time sits down on a few of his shots rather than boxing so much on the retreat. People forget Groves is the younger man of the two and will likely improve more at this stage than Degale who looks fairly stuck in his ways, add that to the confidence he will now have from beating him already and i think we will see a far better Groves in future fights. The first fight for me slightly exposed the fact that Degales handspeed and footwork are nothing special and he is too easy to hit.

They are both at the same stage, chronological age has little to do with it, its about experience, lets see how he goes against Smith first, I'm not ready to write off a 12 fight euro champ yet though.