By Carlos Boogs, Video by Declan Taylor
On Thursday, some eyebrows were raised when IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale (22-1, 14KOs) took some shots at his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport.
The first British Olympic gold medal winner to capture a world title is defending his belt for the second time on Saturday night in Washington, DC against Rogelio Medina (36-6) of Mexico. The fight will be televised on Showtime.
DeGale claimed to have left Hearn and says the promoter is bitter because of the boxer's ongoing business relationship with manager/adviser Al Haymon.
DeGale signed with Haymon not long after traveling to America last May to capture the world title with a decision win over Andre Dirrell in Boston.
Haymon outbid Hearn to win the DeGale-Dirrell purse bid. His company, Premier Boxing Champions, has been paying Dirrell quite a bit of money. Because of that fact, DeGale has not fought in the UK since November of 2014.
"Listen, Eddie Hearn lost the purse bid. I got a million pounds and ended up signing with Al Haymon. He won the purse bid. He's willing to pay the money and look after his fighters. I'm getting the exposure I'm needing. I've been here 48 hours and I've already been stopped three times from people who want a picture, it's mad. My popularity and my profile is going through the roof," DeGale explained to BoxingScene.com's Declan Taylor.
"Don't listen to what Eddie says. Don't even start with Eddie. Eddie is just bitter because I left him. To be honest I have no contract. He's just bitter because he's got no say over me, he has no control over me and I don't lick his ass. I do like Eddie and we do get along. To be honest [because I left him] is why he's gone to Callum Smith real fast and why he's all over Callum Smith now. It's the next best thing. He never had me. He never had a signed contract with me, so it's his fault anyhow. "
Hearn explained in full detail on the situation. He denied some of DeGale's claims, stating that there are two more fights remaining in their agreement - "We had a contract before he signed with Haymon and a new contract after he signed," Hearn said.
"We are good mates, that's first thing. We didn't have enough tickets for him for the Joshua [versus Martin] fight, because we didn't have any, and he wasn't happy so we were arguing about that," Hearn told BoxingScene.com's Declan Taylor.
"Obviously it's a different kind of setup. Al Haymon is advising him and making the decision and I'm co-promoting him. My job is to make sure that he gets on Sky. We've got two fights with him and I'm happy to do my job. As I said in an interview before, if I'm not leading the way then sometimes you cant expect me to do everything because I'm not necessarily making the decisions. I don't know how its going to work out after the contractual fights."
"I'm not bitter. I think as well there has been a lot of focus on Callum Smith. I'm my interview on Callum Smith I said 'this guy is the hottest thing at 168' and [DeGale] phoned me and we a bit of a laugh about that as well. Listen, I'm pushing these guys. Callum Smith is the number one contender. He's been flawless in his career so far. He's the mandatory contender to the winner of Badou Jack and Lucian Bute. And he committed to us long term so I have to do my job for him as well."
