Taking up boxing at the age of 10, DeGale enjoyed success in his early amateur days, winning gold medal at the 2005 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow along with a bronze a year later in Australia.
Despite this success, James arrived at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing with little expectations, but proved the critics wrong with a string of impressive performances to shock the boxing community.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYJIHNLnd0H/
Four wins in a row, including a quarter-final victory over reigning Olympic champion Kazakh Bakhtiyar Artayev saw the middleweight reach the final where he faced Emilio Correa Jr.
The Londoner produced a composed display to beat the Cuban 16-14 and become the first British Olympic Gold Medallist since super-heavyweight Audley Harrison in 2000.
Time To Turn Pro
Shortly after his Olympic success, James DeGale switched to the professional ranks, signing a promotional deal Frank Warren and was trained by the experienced Jim McDonnell. His career began as expected, racking up eight comfortable victories before his first true test, a challenge against Liverpudlian Paul Smith for the British Super Middleweight crown.
‘Chunky’ passed the test with flying colours, winning by ninth round stoppage to set up a mouth-watering clash with his former amateur rival and future world champion George Groves.
The conflict between the two began back in the amateurs, when both competed out of the Dale Youth boxing club in Notting Hill, and both men were desperate to pick up the win.
Groves Clash
The bout took place at the O2 Arena and was an instant classic, with Groves sneaking victory by majority decision after one of the judges scored the contest a draw. It was clear in the aftermath that both men were destined for the top of the Super-Middleweight division.
Despite picking up his first professional defeat, DeGale had no interest in rebuilding and challenged for the European Title just five months later, when he scored a close win over Piotr Wilczewski, picking up the 3rd belt of his career.
History Maker
The Brit went on to defend the belt twice and embark on a ten fight winning streak that put him in a position to challenge for a world title against American Andre Dirrell.
The fight took place in Boston, DeGale’s third bout outside of the UK and despite being the challenger he was the considered the favorite according to the bookmakers.
DeGale proved the boxing critics right with Dirrell hitting the canvas twice in the second round, and struggled to get a foothold in the contest, eventually slipping to a unanimous loss and making James DeGale the first ever Brit to win an Olympic Gold and World Title.
The Badou Jack War
Following the historic win, DeGale gained a large following over in America and continued his career on the other side of the pond, successfully defending against veteran world champion Lucian Bute and Rogelio Medina before a unification battle against WBC champion Badou Jack in early 2017.
This time Brooklyn played host and DeGale once again began on the front foot, flooring Jack in the first round as he looked to an early stoppage.
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However, the Swedish finished strongly and eventually managed to drop the Brit in the 12th round, a knockdown that proved crucial as the contest finished a majority draw, allowing both men to keep their belts.
Truax Loss and Revenge
The 33-year-old clearly felt the effects of the fight, taking 11 months out before eventually returning to the London to defend his belt against Caleb Truax at the Copper Box Area but it wasn’t the homecoming he was hoping for.
The IBF champion struggled for rhythm throughout and eventually slumped to a majority decision defeat, losing the belt he had won over two years ago.
However he did get his revenge just four months later, going back to America to regain the title and become a two-time world champion.
But with retirement getting closer, DeGale vacated the title in the search for big fights.
Who answered the call? Former world title challenger and domestic rival Chris Eubank Jr.
The contest obviously did not end how DeGale would have wanted, but after declaring in the pre-fight build up that the loser should “knock it on the head”, DeGale stayed true to his word and announced his retirement on the 28th of February, 2019.
29 professional contests, 25 wins, two World Titles and an Olympic Gold Medal, James DeGale has a lot to be proud of, a true great of British Boxing History.
You can read DeGale’s statement on US13’s website.
https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=38a1407361d02eb0a5fb44f65&id=2c5edc4ac2
