By Keith Idec
James DeGale feels fresher and stronger at this point in training camp than ever before.
The IBF super middleweight champion attributes these changes to the addition of a nutritionist/strength coach, Nick Palmer, to his training team. Preparation for his 168-pound championship unification fight against Badou Jack marks the first time since DeGale turned pro eight years ago that has he has hired a specialist to supplement his boxing training.
Fading toward the end of his last fight, a 12-rounder against Mexico’s Rogelio Medina, convinced DeGale that he needs to work with an expert in strength and conditioning. Before he hired Palmer, DeGale told BoxingScene.com, “I did it myself, really.
“It’s crazy actually, because I’ve been boxing at the top level for a long time, since the [2008 Summer] Olympics. I’d done a little bit of strength and conditioning with the Great Britain squad. But when I turned pro I just used to do bits and pieces with my actual coach, my boxing coach, Jim McDonnell. We used to do like little circuits. But the sports science side, I haven’t done nothing.”
London’s DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs) hired Palmer not long after he defeated Medina (37-7, 31 KOs) by unanimous decision April 30 in Washington, D.C. His fight against Sweden’s Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs), the WBC world super middleweight champ, is scheduled for January 14 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center (Showtime).
“I think you’re gonna see a big difference come fight night,” said DeGale, who, like all British boxers, is tested regularly for performance-enhancing drugs by UK Anti-Doping. “I’ve been training with my strength and conditioning coach since the Medina fight because in the Medina fight the fitness was there and the skills were there, but I just started to fatigue at the end of the fight. And I think this is what was missing, 100 percent, the strength. And I think we’ll see a difference.”
The 30-year-old DeGale started to sense the need for enhanced training in his two wins before beating Medina. The Olympic gold medalist defeated former IBF super middleweight champ Lucian Bute (32-3-1, 25 KOs) and Andre Dirrell (25-2, 16 KOs) by unanimous decision as well, but he felt fatigued toward the end of those 12-rounders, too.
“Even in the Bute fight, the Dirrell fight, the fitness was there and the skill level, everything like that was there,” DeGale said. “But I just started to fatigue from round 10. The championship rounds, I started to feel a bit fatigued and a bit tired. And it’s all down to science and the strength work. So I’ve changed that and we’ll see. But I feel so much better.”
DeGale added that he continues to make 168 pounds quite comfortably, thus there isn’t a need to move up to 175 pounds anytime soon.
“I do the weight easy,” DeGale said. “It’s the perfect weight for me. Twelve stone [168 pounds], that is my ideal, perfect weight. I make it extremely easy. And I just brought on a strength and conditioning coach, and he does all my nutrition as well. I’m making weight really easy, I’m strong at the weight and I think on the 14th you are gonna see a big, big difference – how solid I am, how strong I am, my power. You’re gonna see a big difference.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
