DEGALE FORCE IS SPENT Golden talent shone for a decade

DOWN at the Red Lion, we were toasting Britain’s new Olympic boxing champion and Tottenham were going all Spursy on TV.

In one corner of the pub, among a healthy contingent of Brits, heavyweight David Price’s family were percolating pride after the Merseyside giant’s gallant bronze medal.

And as we watched Spurs come unstuck at Middlesbrough on the opening day of the season, at least one Arsenal fan in China was in distinctly celebratory mood.

This Red Lion was in downtown Beijing, and a few hundred yards along the road, at the Workers Stadium,

James Degale had just outpointed Cuba’s Emilio Correa – docked two points from biting ‘Chunky’ on the shoulder – in the 2008 Olympic middleweight final. Britain’s previous Olympic gold medallist in the ring, Audley Harrison, dined out on his triumph in Sydney too long and never caught the wave when he turned professional.

Degale (right, with his gold medal), holding court backstage, promised: “I won’t make the same mistakes as Audley – one day I’ll be a world champion.”

He was as good as his word. It was no surprise, following his gallant but clear-cut defeat by Chris

Eubank junior at the weekend, that he announced his retirement from professional boxing at the age of 33.

In truth, there was nowhere left for him to go – but, more importantly, there were no more mountains left for him to climb.although not the biggest puncher in his division, Degale was a supremely gifted boxer in the purest sense: He hit his opponents in the face far more often than he was on the receiving end.

In that regard, he was a worthy successor to another Brit, Carl Froch, as IBF super-middleweight champion when he landed the crown in 2015.

Not by design, Degale became a two-time champion, regaining his title in Las Vegas last year in a rematch with Caleb Truax, who pulled off a shock win in

London six months earlier.

A slick southpaw and switch-hitter, Degale deserved to go out on a high, and although Eubank’s win brought down the curtain at the O2, the soundtrack to Chunky’s last stand was a symphony of appreciation for his decade in the professional ranks.

This observer will always be grateful he curtailed a thankless trawl through Beijing’s heaving department stores on a rare afternoon off at the 2008 Games and skipped the alternative attraction of a world-renowned circus to watch Degale’s Olympic triumph.

That late night down the Red Lion, raising a glass to the last of Team GB’S 19 gold medals, was a memorable excursion for thirst among equals.

And when history judges James Degale, the first British Olympic gold medallist to become a pro world champ, he will be up there with the best exponents of his perilous craft.