I don't hate him. This lad has some serious skill - obviously he hasn't fought anyone of note yet... he's the only 'slick' British fighter i can think of
People in this country don't like him all that much due to the perception (which may or may not be true) that he's an arrogant douchebag. Trotting into the ring in his first pro fight in a ridiculously OTT ringwalk (regardless of whether he'd just won Olympic gold or not) and then performing mediocrely on the night in question really made people embittered, and sort of set out the stall of the collective consciousness as "Oh, this guy's gonna be a prick". British boxing fans tend to have long and resentful memories, and Audley Harrison winning Olympic gold and then boasting his lungs out still lingered in the memory (I'm not saying that other British fighters aren't boastful too, but even guys like Froch don't get the casual fan recognition like DeGale. The "Olympic fast-track" argument also comes in at this point). Bottom line is, the British boxing public generally likes its working-class warrior stories. I myself find DeGale the aforementioned arrogant douchebag, and would far rather root for Groves in a future matchup (though for reasons of personality, rather than ethnicity, which is what certain less savoury fans seem to base their biases on). However, I can't deny DeGale's obvious talents, nor can I really deny the fact that he would beat Groves at this moment in time. It's fine to like or dislike certain boxers, what's not fine is to allow those likes or dislikes to cloud your judgement over who's better/will win a fight.
Brits hate on real talent ala Khan and DeGale but root for talentless ugly-lookers like Calzaghe and Hatton.
Come on wazaa, Calzaghe is a a lot more talented than DeGale. DeGale has no balance, no coordination, his defense wouldn't work against world class opposition, I think his defense is comical at best. He ain't shit man, I'm surprised that people actually think he's skilled. Hopefully he gets exposed soon because I certainly don't like his attitude.
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