DeGale's Coach: Eubank Not Good Enough, Fight Won't Happen

By Ben Jacobs

After a well-deserved break, attention will soon turn as to whom IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale will fight next.  A rematch with Badou Jack seems highly unlikely given that Jack has announced he is moving up to light heavyweight. 

The Londoner’s trainer Jim McDonnell would like to see an all British clash after ‘Chunky’s exploits in North America over the past couple of years.

“I’d like to see him come home and everyone would be crying out for the George Groves fight,” Jim told BoxingScene.com. “It’s an even match, there’s a lot of rivalry, a lot of history.  He (Groves) wants to fight (Fedor) Chudinov but he’s getting peanuts for that fight.  He would get big money to fight James DeGale, but he’s probably thinking if he wins the WBA title he’ll get parity money with DeGale.  I think it would appeal to everyone though. 

“Callum Smith is knocking on the door, he would have been the mandatory if James had won the WBC belt.  I don’t think the Eubank Jr fight will ever happen.  One, I don’t think he’s good enough.  Two, he’s got his dad in his earhole talking absolute garbage.  He had one fight against a person with a good record, that was Billy Jo Saunders and he got skinned. 

“He’s going for a world title with the IBO, it’s a joke.  Then you come and say you want a unification fight?  What?  I’d much rather James fight Groves or Smith.  Eubank is not a (Andre) Dirrell or a Badou Jack and, I think he’s more of a middleweight anyway.”

One man who is particularly keen on seeing which way DeGale will go next is Mexican-based Venezuelan José Uzcátegui who is ranked at number one by the IBF.

“Uzcátegui is his mandatory and they are very strict, you have to look at risk/reward so it’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out.  He’s a tough opponent and you don’t get paid much for that, but we’ll see how Eddie Hearn and Al Haymon can work out the business decisions.”

There appears to be a good possibility that Smith will fight Anthony Dirrell for the vacant WBC belt which Jack relinquished, a potential encounter that McDonnell feels would be as close as they come.

“I think Smith vs Anthony Dirrell is a 50/50 fight. If it’s in the UK I might lean towards Smith, in America I’d lead towards Dirrell.  You’re dealing with a proven against someone who has to prove, but Smith is a very good fighter.  Home advantage would be massive, Smith is a class fighter but he is untested, I think he’d admit that himself.  But he comes from a great boxing family and if he pulls it off it would be massive against DeGale.”