Comments Thread For: James DeGale - Sometimes The Duck is The Right Move

[Mick Higgs]

The WBC have made the winner of Groves/Smith there mandatory @ 168Lb, so hopefully after Saturday's Ramirez/O'Conner fight we get that unification. My guess is that there's going to be a WBSS @ 175Lb & DeGale's going to be involved in that.

[sportbuddha]

The way I see it is if you’re at a point in your career where you don’t want to fight certain fighters because you think you’ll likely lose than you should call it a career.

I don’t agree. It’s easy to say quit, but he can earn another $1-2m, not many people would retire if a couple more jobs paid that. This is Degale’s livelihood, his work, so taking the job that pays the most over reputation completely makes sense. What’s it’s not is very noble, brave or heroic - he’s making a smart decision.

[animelive]

Why does he think people will pay to watch a fighter without faith in himself? What is the point of even boxing anymore.

Retire if you are not up for a challenge but these boxers are getting too disrespectful and shameless these days. Claiming to duck is nothing to be proud of and is as low as a career gets.

[Tony Trick-Pony]

By Cliff Rold - James DeGale (24-2-1, 14 KO), 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist and two-time former IBF super middleweight titlist, might be a three time titlist some day. If he is, it won't be necessarily be because he regained the IBF strap again. Perhaps down the road he will but for now he is a former titlist by choice. If he wanted to keep that strap, he had to face a mandatory challenge in the form of Jose Uzcategui...
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Degale gonna be after Cliff.

Unless he pulls out of that fight, too.

[FlatLine]

Degale has been in a lot of hard fights throughout his career against top opposition. If he wants to start picking and choosing his opponents more carefully this late on in his career, that's perfectly acceptable. Floyd, for example, did this sort of careful selection for many years before he finally retired! He picked and chose the right fights at the right times, lower risk, higher reward - perhaps Conor Mcgregor being the ultimate example of this in his retirement fight!

[Devils Advocate]

DeGale is clearly declining and already past his prime now. Both fights with lightly regarded Truax prove this. DeGale would make little money fighting Uzcategui and he would likely get destroyed and retired in the process.

No adviser or manger worth the shoes on his feet would advise DeGale to fight Uzcategui at this point in his declining career. Right now it's all about cashing out against the big names while he can.

DeGale deserves to pick and choose who he fights at this point b/c he’s faced everyone and he’s even fought abroad.

DeGale’s job is to maximize his earning potential and make sure he’s set for the rest of life.

[LacedUp]

He's been promised a shot at the winner of WBSS, which by all accounts is a tougher fight than uzcatsguy or whatever his name is.

People saying Degale is ducking...

[daveydmx]

This guy , Olympic Gold Medalist and World Champion should be a UK Superstar but he is not, . . . he is a repulsive character with absolutely zero fan base . . He wrote the paper on how NOT to do it . . Thus his sad and lonely trek around the Globe for fights . . He don’t need to retire . . He is forgotten already

[Removed Now]

I guess whether it's a good move or not depends on who he can fool, because he's put himself in a catch-22 situation. Look at this way, he ducks Uzcategui because he wants to take a bigger fight. However, it stands to reason that any bigger fight he'd take would involve an opponent of perhaps similar, probably even higher calibre. If he's not confident of beating Uzcategui, why would I expect him to be competitive against Groves, Eubank, Smith or Saunders? Some fighters might have the privilege of having this problem escape people's notice, because they're so famous that the people watching the fights don't read the boxing news headlines. I don't think Degale falls into that category, however.

At 168 he beats Eubanks Idk about Groves, Saunders or Smith.

[Scopedog]

At 168 he beats Eubanks Idk about Groves, Saunders or Smith.

I reckon it's a somewhat even fight, both guys with god-given gifts (Eubank with the toughness and power, Degale with the skills) but with no boxing IQ whatsoever. It's a duel to see who can come up with the least braindead gameplan. If Eubank learns how to apply pressure effectively then he batters Degale bloody, but if not and Degale figures out a way to use space without magnetising himself to the ropes and corners like he usually does then Eubank suffers a repeat of the Groves fight. It's an interesting matchup, it's a battle between



and



Still, I'll stand by my point that if Degale ducks Uzcategui then he doesn't have the right to be confident against Eubank. I'm not sure which fighter is better but they're in the same ballpark imo.