I NEED £30m TO LIVE LIFE
But DeGale won’t cash in by starring on Strictly
James DeGale calculates he will need to earn another £30million if his life after boxing is to be lived as luxuriously as it is today.
even so, he refuses to top up his income by accepting offers to follow his fellow fighter amir Khan into the I’m A Celebrity jungle or Joe Calzaghe into the
Strictly ballroom. ‘I’ve turned down both of those,’ says the world super-middleweight champion. ‘I’ve said no to
Big Brother, too. That stuff is not for me when I have to use my time earning a lot more money from really big fights.’ so £30m? ‘I know this will sound sick to many people,’ says the pugilist who wants his pay cheques to be as Chunky as his ring name. ‘But 10 million quid is no longer that much money. Not when you’ve got to give the taxman 47 per cent and pay your team and all your expenses. Out of every million I’m lucky if I get to keep four hundred grand.’
That may sound plenty but boxing is a short career and successful fighters often become accustomed to a lavish lifestyle. each to their own indulgences.
‘I love buying clothes,’ he says. ‘I’ve turned one of the biggest bedrooms in the house into a walk-in wardrobe. I also spend on my family.
‘all that’s important to me and I want to be able to carry on living the way I do after I retire. I’m not getting married any time soon. I’ve had a few girlfriends but they can’t deal with my life and how I am as a boxer.
‘They can’t be around me before a fight because I’m so moody in camp. Then after the fight they can’t see me because I go out with my mates.
‘In my time off I like meeting women, partying with my mates and spending money I’ve earned the hard way. I will have to find the right girl, a special girl, before even thinking about marriage.’
This is DeGale’s reality, not the television shows. He says: ‘I’m not into the fame game, no matter what impression people may have of me. I’m into boxing. all I really want to do is box, win titles, make money.’
at 31, he knows he needs to cash in as quickly as possible, especially after being kept out of the ring for the last 11 months. The injuries dulled his appetite for the sport and he contemplated quitting. The first British boxer to do the double of Olympic gold medal and world title reflects: ‘When I was a young pro I was really excited about boxing. That faded a bit. I began to think about how soon I could retire. like maybe after my last fight against Badou Jack.’
That epic was in January in New York, a draw which he fought with virtually one arm as a longtroublesome right shoulder collapsed. a complex operation followed and DeGale says now: ‘It was agony for months.
‘I’m a southpaw who hooks off my right lead but against Jack in a really tough fight I could only throw seven jabs the whole fight. But now that mashed-up shoulder is healed and I feel great in sparring. I’m back in love with the game.’
Tonight he defends his IBF title against little-known american Caleb Truax at the london Olympic Park’s Copper Box arena and his first fight in the UK for more than three years is designed to pave the way to championship unification clashes with unbeaten WBC and WBO belt- holders David Benavidez and Gilberto Ramirez respectively, perhaps back in america, and then a stadium super-fight here against his long-time rival George Groves, the WBa champion.
DeGale expects the rematch with Groves, to whom he lost a close and disputed decision six years ago, to realise one-third of his capital wealth ambition.
although a large chunk of that purse would go to the Inland Revenue, DeGale has no intention of following the likes of lewis Hamilton and Chris Froome into tax exile in monaco.
‘even with what I pay I’ve never been tempted to live somewhere like switzerland or monaco,’ he says. ‘I have thought about going to america. I’ve trained in miami and I like it a lot there. But I love london and my family look after me. I’m a baby. I rely on mum and my sister eloise to do everything for me. It’s like, “Hello mum, I’ve got a flat tyre, what do I do?”, “Hello sis, I need a loaf of bread”.’’
Tonight against Truax is about putting bread back on the table. Do that and the jam comes next year.