DeGale retires with ‘nothing left to prove’

JAMES DeGALE called time on his boxing career yesterday, 10 years to the day after he made his professional debut. The 33-year-old suffered a unanimous decision defeat by British rival Chris Eubank Jnr on Saturday. The former two-time IBF super-middleweight champion said: ‘It’s been an unbelievable journey and I’ve had an amazing decade — if I’m honest, the best years of my life. ‘I’m proud to say that I’ve made history as the first ever British Olympian boxer to turn professional and to win a world title and I am also proud to have been a road warrior — to travel wherever I needed to be to fight and to win. There’s nothing left to prove.’ DeGale’s old foe George Groves said on Twitter: ‘I’ve given him a lot of stick the past week after his loss at the weekend but I want to wish James DeGale well in the next chapter of his life. You’ve made the right decision.’ DeGale’s record is 25 wins, three defeats and a draw, with 15 KOs. He claimed Olympic gold in 2008 and won his first world title in 2015 against Andre Dirrell.