In the US last night, Boston to be precise, James DeGale made history.
As well as claiming the IBF super-middleweight crown vacated by Carl Froch, DeGale became the first British fighter to add a bona-fida world title to an Olympic Gold medal.
In what was a fight that exceeded expectations with many pundits predicting a clash of styles nullifying the contest, DeGale took the verdict by a unanimous points? decision with all three judges scoring the twelve round contest in DeGale?s favour.
At the end of twelve thrilling rounds, the score-cards were as thus:-
? American Judge ? Daniel Fitzgerald 114-112
? British Judge ? Howard Foster ? 114-112
? Canadian Judge ? Alan Davies ? 117-109
And all in favour of, and the new, IBF super-middleweight champion of the world ? James DeGale.
DeGale got off to the better start in the contest against Andre Dirrell, sneaking the first round with some effective work, but the fight was to take a major turn in the second round. After being caught with a big punch from Dirrell, DeGale produced a stunning punch of his own to put Dirrell firmly on the canvas.
Dirrell climbed to his feet but his legs were clearly shaky and it wasn?t long before the American touched the canvas again. It seemed only a matter of time before DeGale would finish him off but the American showed his superb powers of recovery to pull himself together.
The next few rounds saw Dirrell keep out of range as he tried to get his head together and change the pattern of the fight. DeGale, knowing he already had a big lead, circled his opponent and picking him off with jabs.
But as the fight wore on Dirrell did start to dictate the pace and DeGale, after those early exertions, seemed to be tiring. The latter rounds were close but DeGale hung on in there to achieve his goal.
In the chaos that ensued the reading out the verdict, DeGale?s supporters celebrated wildly whilst the new champion had this to say,
‘It’s an unbelievable feeling, I’m world champ – I made history.
‘I will take on any super-middleweight in the world. There’s no other super-middleweight that would beat me on my day.’
The win takes DeGale?s professional record to 21-1 with the only defeat in the professional ranks coming against George Groves who takes on Badou Jack for the WBC title later in the year.
Could we be possibly heading towards a huge domestic unification fight in 2016?
DeGale?s Boston Tea-Party
