is James DeGale really that skilled?

[John Locke]

One big difference, Bradley is an overachiever and very consistent, great stamina

Agree, Bradley is mentally a level above

[Outwest Exp 355]

I take nothing away from Medina but DeGale seems to make hard work of every fight even the fights where it would seem abundantly clear he is levels above. Fights that probably should be very easy outings.

Wilczewski, Dyah Davies, the guy Callum Smith just blasted out in a round.
Why is a guy that skilled constantly struggling with opponents like them? He went life and death in some of those.

I mean I'd of thought a guy that was that skilled would of shown it by shutting them out and dispatching of them in style. True world class operators shouldn't be having much issues with opponents of this calibre.
He is a world champion, an olympic gold medalist its quite worrying he is barely scraping by these sort of opponents to me anyway

I said the man is skilled not perfect. Personally I think he wasn't in good enough shape and that showed up. I think that conditioning is his Achilles heel.

[boliodogs]

I thought he lost the fight last night and he made a ton of mistakes and showed a lack of stamina and determination. He ran away most of the fight. He did land some hard fast tricky punches. He can look very good in spurts but that doesn't make his many mistakes go away. he also often throws wide telegraphed punches. Overall I think he is overrated by many and not that good. I will bet money Jack outpoints him.

[emre belozoglu]

Degale has loads of talent

[Chrismart]

I think he's a skillled fighter, but no where near as skilled/slick as he thinks he is.

I'd like to see him tone it down, stop focusing on how he looks in there and make things easy for himself in the process.
I'm a fan of his and believe he could make easier work of some of his opponents if he really wanted to change a few things.

I sometimes wish McDonnell would be more 'to the point' in the corner with him.

[Nod]

He has skill but what you see is more natural talent than applied skill.

[gmc_rfc_06]

I've always said this.

To me he is a good fighter, but nothing more than that.

I see a guy who believes he's much better than he really is. Average defensively, throws the same basic shots all the time, limited power, above average speed, very poor stamina...

He continuously makes hard work of fighters he's supposed to be much better than.

[sunny31]

He has skills, but its nothing out of this world. He is pretty slippery on the inside and is good fighting off the shoulder, and in close quarters he is generally pretty explosive when he lets his hands go, good variety to his punches and some good angles. Also a good jab when he uses it. Thats the good part.

I said this kind of stuff after Bute but everyone bit my head off, because as you say TS I think his fans think he is better than what he is because of what he shows them, the thing is I am not an untrained eye and I know what I see with him and his limitations. First of all he takes 3-4 rounds off every fight, no truly elite level fighter does that. Now that he is fighting at world level it is getting exposed in every fight because at this level you can't give guys easy rounds, it gives them confidence and can turn a fairly comfortable fight into life and death struggle.

His defence at times is very good, but other times leaky and he gets hit with flush punches. He has the skills to make fighters miss at close range, he is very good in the pocket but that doesn't mean you can just stay there for extended periods of time and not expect to get hit, even Mayweather and Whitaker got hit when they stayed in there too long, the difference with Degale is firstly he is not that good, and second he doesn't realise when he's been in there too long, and he doesn't use his legs at the right time.

To me he is a good fighter, there is a lot to like about the way he fights. He is a good world champion, but there is nothing special there at all, neither him or Badou Jack. They are relatively normal world champions, definitely not top tier. Carl Froch was a top tier 168lber and he blasted Bute. Ward was a special 168lber. Its an old cliche but boxing is definitely about levels, and Degale should not be mentioned with guys like Froch yet and definitely not someone of the calibre of Ward.

Degale has attributes that will make him a problem for anyone in and around his weight, but for me at world level you will rarely see a complete performance from him, because he is not a complete fighter, I would categorise him similar to the likes of a Judah, very talented, but the top guys, the elite guys will beat him. The only difference being with Judah his chin and spirit were the problem, whereas with Degale its definitely the stamina and output.

[sunny31]

I've always said this.

To me he is a good fighter, but nothing more than that.

I see a guy who believes he's much better than he really is. Average defensively, throws the same basic shots all the time, limited power, above average speed, very poor stamina...

He continuously makes hard work of fighters he's supposed to be much better than.

Yeah snap but my version was longer.