By Rick Reeno
Last month, Olympic gold medal winner James DeGale (21-1, 14KOs) achieved his dream of capturing a world title when he fought his way to a twelve round unanimous decision win over Andre Dirrell to secure the vacant IBF super middleweight crown.
After the match, DeGale discussed some potential options for the future - which is when he ripped WBC champion Badou Jack (19-1-1, 12KOs), who a few weeks earlier had captured his title with a victory over Andre's brother, Anthony Dirrell. Jack is now set to make a mandatory defense against the only man who scored a victory over DeGale, his domestic rival George Groves.
"Badou Jack is terrible. I would absolutely batter him. I would batter Badou Jack," DeGale said.
Jack remembers DeGale from the amateurs, and wants nothing more than to get him in the ring.
"I sparred with James DeGale a couple of years ago, before the Olympics, when we were amateurs. He got a big mouth. I would love to fight him," Jack told BoxingScene.com.
"Whether you like a person or not, you gotta be real. He's a pretty good fighter. To me, he's good but he's a little bit of a frontrunner. Me myself, I get stronger as the fight goes. I would try to finish him in the later rounds."