James DeGale has compared challenger Lucian Bute to Jeff Lacy, believing the way Carl Froch exposed the Romanian-Canadian to be similar to the way Joe Calzaghe ruined the career of Lacy.
DeGale makes the first defence of his IBF super-middleweight title against Bute in Quebec, Canada on November 28, three and a half-years after Bute lost the same title in five traumatic rounds to Froch in 2012.
Like Lacy before Calzaghe in 2006, Bute was undefeated before that fight but he lost in such convincing fashion that his previous reputation was shattered and he has since failed to impress.
American Lacy was being described as "the next Mike Tyson" before Calzaghe's finest ever performance ended his career at the elite level, but while DeGale insisted Bute was not "finished", he says he has gradually unravelled since losing for the first time and is planning on capitalising on his vulnerability.
"I don't think he's finished, I think he's a good fighter," DeGale, 29, told Press Association Sport.
"But I've seen weaknesses since the Carl Froch fight.
"Even before that, if I'm being brutally honest, I think he's a bit of a Jeff Lacy fighter before that. He was matched well, he was hyped, he was protected.
"It made sense for me to go to Canada to fight him, and I'll get kudos for going to someone else's country and defending my title."
