By Edward Chaykovsky
Ambrose Mendy, adviser to Olympic gold medal winner James DeGale (20-1, 14KOs), says his fighter could end up facing George Groves (21-2, 16KOs) in a rematch for the vacant IBF super middleweight title.
Froch was recently ordered by the IBF to defend his title against DeGale, the mandatory challenger. Froch has until the end of January to reach an agreement or a purse bid will be ordered. The Nottingham boxer has expressed very little interest in facing DeGale.
If Froch decides to pass, the next available contender is Gilberto Ramirez, who Mendy claims has already passed on the opportunity. Ranked at number 3 is Groves, who won a close twelve round majority decision over DeGale in 2011.
But Groves is also the mandatory challenger to WBC champion Anthony Dirrell and may go the WBC route instead of a rematch with DeGale.
Mendy told Voice of Sport: “A lot of people are getting excited about Amir Khan being trained by Virgil Hunter but James blew Brandon Gonzales away and he’s trained by Virgil too. He’d also been in the ring everyday for the last five years with Andre Ward and was unbeaten before he met James. Similarly, Periban had never been off his feet and we saw what happened to him.”
“Right now Carl Froch still has until [January 31] before he is told to fight James or they strip him of the title. Then what will happen is James will probably fight George Groves. Gilberto Ramirez has already said he doesn’t want to fight James, it’s too early for him. I know where James is mentally and it doesn’t matter who he fights next he will beat them. Ask anyone that knows anything in boxing, no one doubts James DeGale’s talent.”