By Jake Donovan

James DeGale won’t have much time to celebrate his knockout win over Sebastian Demers, which served as his North American debut. 

Less than a month after stopping Demers in two rounds, the super middleweight contender is scheduled to return to the ring on June 8. DeGale is slated to face Stjepan Bozic of Croatia at Glow, Bluewater in Kent, England. The bout marks DeGale’s appearance at the state of the art venue within the Bluewater Entertainment Center. 

“I’m excited to be boxing at Glow again, it was a tremendous atmosphere for my last fight and it’s a great venue to headline at,” DeGale said.

The card itself is a replacement for a canceled show from March. DeGale was slated to face Alexander Brand in what would have served as his 2013 debut, but the card was scrapped and the fight never rescheduled. 

Less than two weeks removed from his knockout win over Demers in Canada, DeGale now fights for the second time in 2013. His next challenger boasts title fight experience, though Bosic (26-6. 17KO) has fallen miserable short at that level. The Slovenian-born Croatian suffered stoppage losses against Arthur Abraham and Dmitri Sartison, both coming on the advice of the ringside physician after in-ring injuries suffered. 

Bosic enters the fight riding a modest two-fight win streak, though is treated as a world champion as far as DeGale is concerned.

"I'm not overlooking anyone, whoever gets put in front of me I'm training for like it was a world title fight," DeGale said. "I know that there are big names out there, but the first thing I have to do is take care of Stjepan Bozic on June 8th.”

DeGale (15-1, 10KO) puts his mandatory super middleweight title shot at risk, though confident that the fight is just the next step towards making history. The win over Demers came follows an attention-grabbing near-shutout of Fulgencio Zuniga last December, part of a five-fight win streak following his lone loss, a 12-round decision at the hands of in-country rival George Groves.

Next month’s showdown with Bosic is a placeholder for big things to come – and DeGale isn’t the least bit shy about facing the best the division has to offer.

“This year is going to be a big year for me,” insists DeGale, a Gold Medalist for Great Britain during the 2008 Beijing Games. “I’m looking to be the first ever British Olympic Gold Medalist who goes on and wins a professional world title and I just want to show my fans and especially the British fight fans what I'm made of.

"I'm the WBC Silver champion and ranked highly with the world governing bodies, I'm aiming to put on a great show at Glow, Bluewater and if either Froch or Groves feel ready for a domestic super fight I hope they realize that I'm ready for them too - let's get it on." 

UNDERCARD AND TICKET INFO

Featured on the undercard will be WBC International super-bantamweight champion Kid Galahad; son middleweight sensation Chris Eubank Jr – son of former two-division champ Chris Eubank Sr. - and current World Youth Super-heavyweight champion Hughie Fury (1st cousin to heavyweight contender Tyson Fury) in his fifth professional contest.
 
The undercard will also feature Sammy Cantwell from Bexleyheath, Peter McDonagh from Bermondsey, Dani Davis of Croydon and Eli Green from Guildford. 

Tickets already purchased for the event originally dated for March 23rd at Glow, that have not been returned for a refund, will be able to be used for this new date and no new tickets will be issued.
 
Anyone unable to attend this new date can get a refund at point of purchase.
 
Tickets for June 8th are priced from £35 and are available to purchase from the following box offices today: Hennessy Sports box office 01925 755 222

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board, Yahoo Boxing Ratings Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox