DEGALE FEATURE
Is James Degale the man he used to be? John Dennen finds out
Investigating whether the former world champion is the man he used to be
YOUR body betrays you. James Degale had spent his life moving. Training, sparring, competing, running, whatever it might be. Yet he found himself slowing, his legs hurting. He couldn’t throw the punches that he used to. The reactions that were once second nature were seemingly deserting him. It was a betrayal. The skills he was meant to have mastered, that an Olympic gold medal and professional world title would suggest that he had mastered, were fading.
These were his dark moments, trying to get through training, and get through sparring, thinking to himself that he couldn’t move right, couldn’t even jab properly. He’d get hit with a shot but find he could not come back with a ready counter.
When your whole adult life has been predicated on being a boxer, on being a particularly good one in fact, that is a disorientating experience. You’re not quite you anymore.
“It was so, so difficult,” he reflected. “To train. For three years I was training, I was having close spars with people I normally ping. They’re probably looking [and thinking] oh my god I could be world champ…
“There was one point I was saying is there something wrong with me? Am I going backwards?”
Boxing can age fighters ahead of their time. Gruelling 12 rounders can put years on a career. But Degale insists it was not this cruel sport that damaged him. It was himself. It was his fault.
“It was my own,” he said. “What I was brought up in and what I believed in. What I believed in was hard work, dedication. Run your body to the ground. If you can run longer, you’re going to be fit. If you can spar 15 rounds you’re going to be fitter. 12 rounds is nothing. It doesn’t work like that. Sport has evolved. Especially boxing has evolved.”
Degale promises that he has evolved with it. “Sports science, it’s crazy. This is why Nick [Palma] has been a good addition to my team because he’s educated me about so much just about sports science, fitness, nutrition. Look at the shape I’m in. It’s mad. I’m feeling so good. I’m fit and you lot are going to see on the 23rd,” he said. “They said you’ve got to stop running. When they said you’ve got to stop running I [thought], ‘I can’t stop running, I want to get fit.’ But I’m the fittest I’ve ever been. The running was detrimental to my performance. I was running too much. I used to do my long run on a Sunday, I used to do my two track sessions and I used to do a five mile run in the week, plus my strength and my boxing six times a week. It was all too much.”
You’ve heard this before. Degale has complained of injuries time and time again, fight after fight over recent years. “It annoys me to keep on saying it because you lot have heard it and I’m sounding like a parrot and I’m fed of keeping on talking about it but I’m only telling you what’s in my brain,” he says.
But this time he is adamant. He is feeling better. He is boxing better. He is moving better. So we sought independent confirmation. Anthony Fowler has sparred Degale both before he boxed Caleb Truax and in this camp for Chris Eubank Jnr. “I sparred him about a year ago,” Fowler told
Boxing News. “He was alright but he was ³
“I DIDN’T REALLY HAVE IT BUT YOU LOT JUDGE ME AFTER THIS FIGHT”
a lot sharper this time. His body looked more solid than the first time. He looked good. He must have thought he sparred well. He’s definitely better than what he was.
“I’ve improved as well, I’ve had a lot more time, a lot more fights and I’ve improved as well so he has definitely improved.”
“He was fitter than what he was, he was a bit sharper and he looked more focused for this fight than he was for that Truax fight,” the 2016 Olympian added. “He is very hard to nail clean so if he can stick to a good game plan, he can get Eubank’s respect with his power. If he hits him with a few shots early on that get his respect and he sticks to his plan, his boxing and his moving he should win on points because in their skill level there’s a big gap. His only danger is the great chin Eubank’s got and the constant pressure. He starts to lay on the ropes and switch off in the rounds, Eubank will nail him with uppercuts and hooks.
“Luckily enough I’m used to that style [of Degale] – southpaw, tricky. Where Eubank won’t be. I’ve boxed all these Kazakhs, Cubans, Russians with that horrible style. I’ve learned to adapt to that style whereas Eubank may get a shock at how tricky he is.
“As long as he can get Eubank to respect him he should have a good night. There’ll be some hard spells and a few big hits but I do expect him to win on points.”
Fowler personally is happy to help Degale prepare for this. The Liverpudlian still smarts from Eubank offering to take his place on the Olympic team, when the rules had been changed to allow professionals to enter the Games. “Just the sheer arrogance that he thinks he can walk into my spot when I was an amateur [on GB] for years. Proper arrogance,” Fowler said. “He thinks because his name’s Eubank he can walk in and take my spot. I’d love to settle that score one day and beat him up myself.”
“I want to fight Eubank one day myself,” he added. “Hopefully he loses this fight and goes back down to middleweight and in the future we could fight. I’d move to middle for that fight no problem.”
Fowler is hardly the only boxer to be angered by Eubank Jnr’s imperious demeanour. Count Degale amongst their number. The Harlesden boxer maintains that Eubank is not on his level. A loss to him therefore, at this late stage in his career, would be “devastating”. But Junior does have qualities. He is rugged, physically strong, sets a high tempo and is not easily discouraged. He is capable of subjecting Degale to another tumultuous night. The former champion needs to limit the damage.
James however is adamant that this time, at long last, he is in the condition to recapture the form of old. He said, “If he wants to stand there and fence off with me and box me and hold the centre of the ring, he’s going to find it very hard. It’s going to be an easy night’s work. I’m telling him to try his best, think he’s fitter than me, stronger than me, try and bully me, just try.”
Degale will need to move. He will need to be agile, box a sensible a fight without getting sucked in to standing and trading too long. He will need to rediscover his old self. “Remember Bute, Gonzalez, Dirrell, the movement, the speed, the angles. I can do it now and you’re going to see it. Whereas before I couldn’t so I had to box at their level. I had to box with what I had, with the movement I had, with the power I had, the sharpness I had, I didn’t really have it,” James said.
Watch therefore his footwork. That, in a big ring, will be key. “That’s going to be the
“I’M GOING TO KEEP IT REAL, REAL SIMPLE WITH CHRIS EUBANK”
telling difference,” he said. “I’m going to keep it real, real simple with Chris Eubank. Good feet and it beats him.”
He needs those feet to keep him out of another brawl. He has had too many of them, not least his punishing draw with Badou Jack. For many that 2017 clash was a turning point in Degale’s career, heralding a decline, even if it is a fight that James takes a perverse pride in. He showed his grit. “Hard, brutal, mad. I can see why people are saying, ‘He’s shot, he’s had too many hard fights. That Badou Jack fight. He’s done now...’ I was bruised, I was bloody, I took my licks. I showed arsehole. I showed what I’m about. You don’t want too many of those fights. But don’t worry, I’m still there,” Degale said.
If that proves to be the case, if his best re-emerges, Degale thinks he would not only beat Eubank but be in a position to reclaim a world championship. Callum Smith, the last man to beat George Groves, holds the WBA title and looks to be the best in the division. While defeat would signal the end of Degale’s career, victory would leave him gunning to challenge for a belt once again.
“I think Callum Smith’s a brilliant fighter... Against Groves he proved that he’s a quality fighter. I don’t know how he makes the weight. He’s massive, he’s big, he can punch.,” Degale said but added, “You know me. I don’t back down from no challenge. As I say, I want to become a world champion again.”
Such appealing dreams depend on beating Eubank in a certain style and winning a new level of support in his own career. “This time round I believe the O2 will be mine. The crowd will be mine,” James said. “This is going to be a fantastic night and a great fight. This fight I honestly believe the styles are going to gel, Eubank comes to fight. I’m not going to back down. He thinks I’m going to die, he thinks I’m not fit.”
Degale might not need to be loved, but he does need to win. This fight might test all his mettle. After all his promises, after all his injuries, battles and title fights, this will be the contest to decide his future. As he said, “You lot judge after this fight.”
An Olympic and two-time professional champion, when it comes to achievement he has “nothing left to prove”. But he has an answer to find, to see where he stands now and what the James Degale of 2019 can do. This fight will reveal whether a decline truly has set in, or if he is still there.