A Boxing Memory: James DeGale

A Boxing Memory: James DeGale

We were spared a long, painful goodbye. Ten years after he made his professional debut, James DeGale announced his retirement from boxing.

“It’s been an unbelievable journey, and I’ve had an amazing decade. If I’m honest, the best years of my life.” DeGale said when the call came in 2019.

It was only a few days after the final ring walk. The accumulation of a long career and the youth and freshness of Chris Eubank Jr. was too much for him at the O2 Arena in London. DeGale tasted the canvas on two occasions, was rocked repeatedly, and lost by scores of 114-112; 115-112, and 117-109. Eubank promised improvements beforehand. In truth, it was the decline of his opponent that contributed to his supposed relaunch into the upper echelons of his sport. Even before the fight was over, retirement seemed the sensible call. The only call.

DeGale was as brave as ever. A part of his resume that often gets lost in his career narrative. There were flashes of the old brilliance. But for too many periods, we saw the ageing process in full bloom. The balance, the punch resistance, the concentration, they weren’t what they once were. Not by much. But enough. At 33, DeGale and his broken body had seen enough. We don’t need to see the final dance, but the fighter has to. And feel it.

“It is hard to admit that I’m not the fighter I once was, but I’m human and along the way my injuries have taken a toll, both on mind and body and these things have contributed to impact my performance in the ring.” 

There was Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008 when he was a rank outsider for the gold medal, and he made history when he became a world champion in 2015 when he beat Andre Dirrell for the IBF super-middleweight title.

“I’m proud to say that I’ve made history as the first ever British Olympian boxer to turn professional and win a world title,” DeGale said in his retirement words. The importance of that statistic shouldn’t get lost with the passing of time. An Olympic gold medal and a world title. He was the first British fighter to do that elusive double. Nobody can ever take that away from him. History indeed.

There were only three defeats on his resume in twenty-nine fights. But the end had been coming. There were more than signs of decline in 2017 in London when the perceived safe opponent Caleb Truax beat him on points, a defeat that ruined any immediate hopes of DeGale getting the chance to avenge his first professional loss at the hands of bitter rival George Groves. That was very much a rematch that got away. The shock defeat to Truax when DeGale seemed at the pinnacle of his powers was at least partially put down to his near year-long hiatus from the ring because of surgery to repair a shoulder injury. But it looked far more than that.

DeGale did get his world title back and revenge over Truax the following year, but in many ways, he still failed to convince.

DeGale will probably always suffer unfairly in comparison to some of his contemporaries. A marmite type character who was booed on his professional debut, but despite long periods of his career seemingly treading water in the shadows, DeGale turned his career around quite wonderfully and deserves to be remembered fondly for his talent and achievements.

In his 9th fight, DeGale went to enemy territory and impressively stopped Paul Smith in his hometown of Liverpool to claim the British super-middleweight title in 2010. But two fights later, Groves edged him out on the cards by way of a wafer-thin points decision. It could, in truth, have gone either way, but the protests of DeGale changed nothing. The feud, that started when Groves beat DeGale in the unpaid ranks, was beyond real. We were denied a natural conclusion to that rivalry.

DeGale won the European title in his next fight but ended up on the Leisure Centre circuit until he got himself a supporting role to Carl Froch and Groves at Wembley Stadium in 2014 and impressively stopped the unbeaten American Brandon Gonzales in four rounds. DeGale impressed greatly, and it was the performance his dwindling career badly needed. The big career relaunch had started. He wouldn’t waste it.

The following year, DeGale went to Boston and beat another American, Andre Dirrell on points and claimed the vacant IBF super-middleweight title. Dirrell was dropped twice in the early stages but came back into the fight in the later stages, but the British fighter was a more than deserving winner. A too-wide 117-109 and two more balanced cards of 114-112 allowed DeGale to make history.

DeGale defended his title twice on the road before a savage unification fight with the WBC champion Badou Jack in New York in 2017. It was described by one scribe as ‘white-knuckle drama’, and it was that and more. They traded knockdowns, DeGale lost a tooth, but not his title. Both had arguments that they won. The majority draw was probably fair. Neither fighter deserved to lose. A forgotten classic. DeGale proved many a point that night.

But the brutality of the fight probably took away too much from the body of DeGale. An ageing fight and I’m not sure DeGale ever properly recovered from his war with Jack. There was talk of a rematch. Thankfully, it never came.

Despite the whispers in his ear to change his inner circle, DeGale resisted any temptation to move his trainer Jim McDonnell to one side. To his credit, he remained loyal to McDonnell who was there at the start. And at the end. Trust me, in boxing that is very much a rarity.

DeGale left on a defeat to a British rival, but he left the sport with respect. Just maybe, that was his greatest-ever victory.

Photo Credit: PA Archive