James DeGale is only days away from his next IBF World super middleweight title defence on home soil at the Copper Box in London this Saturday.
‘Chunky’ showed his skills on Monday at the Stonebridge boxing club in front of a packed media audience. He looked fast, sharp and powerful but also a bit agitated since he cannot wait to get back into the ring and put on a show for the UK audience for the first time since 2014.
Caleb Truax will try to upset DeGale in front of his hometown but the IBF champion is confident his opponent won’t do much.
“Truax is a good fighter but he’s not elite. He’s not a world beater. He’s not great but he’s a solid opponent. He’s been there with some good opponents,” commented DeGale to Boxing Social.
DeGale also revealed his ideal scenario for 2018 and touched briefly on Chris Eubank Jr’s comments about making the move over to the US.
The London boxer wants to challenge WBC World super middleweight champion David Benavidez early next year and then possibly take on the winner of the World Boxing Super Series.
“Benavidez early part of next year and then maybe the winner of the Super Series. Maybe I could fit a little defence before. I’m not too sure because I’ve got my mandatory [Caleb Truax] as well. I don’t know, everything is up in the air but I think the first fight next year could be Benavidez,” said DeGale.
George Groves and Eubank are fighting for a spot to get into the finals of the Super Series tournament and fans are already salivating over a possible British World super middleweight unification bout whether it be DeGale versus Groves or Eubank Jr.
DeGale believes Groves will get the victory on February 17th.
“I don’t care who wins. I think Groves will win but it wouldn’t surprise me if Eubank beats him,” he said.
Eubank Jr recently suggested that he could generate Floyd Mayweather Jr type of hype if given the chance to enter into the US boxing market, especially Las Vegas.
Experienced US visitor DeGale wasn’t buying any of Eubank’s comments.
“Eubank is an idiot. He’s an idiot. I don’t listen to nothing he says. He’s a fool. He’s an idiot and a fool,” summarised ‘Chunky’.
DeGale will headline Frank Warren’s event this Saturday at the Copper Box.
Other big names on the card include Lee Selby defending his IBF World featherweight title against Eduardo Ramirez, Daniel Dubois facing Dorian Darch and Anthony Yarde looking to retain his WBO European light heavyweight and WBO Intercontinental light heavyweight titles against Nikola Skejloca.
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