DeGale A Future World Champ?
James DeGale produced by far the best performance of his pro career to date by outclassing and stopping brave Paul Smith in the 9th round, to win the British super middleweight title.
DeGale was looking to win the British title from a respected champion in only his 9th fight. Some people thought that maybe he'd bitten of more than he could chew too soon in his career but James rose to the occasion.
In front of a pro-Smith crowd in the Echo Arena in Liverpool, DeGale showed a great attitude and focus and assumed control from the start. He measured his distance well and controlled the pace as Smith was looking for his openings.
As the rounds progressed it was increasingly looking like DeGales speed, skills and power as well as his ring generalship were goung to be too much for Smith. Smith moved forward looking for openings to land his punches but he couldn't really land with much. Any half-landed punch from the scouser was cheered by the big crowd but they were quelled by DeGales dominance.
It was an intriguing fight though since we didn't really know how DeGale's stamina would hold up as the rounds progressed since he's never been past 5 rounds before. We also didn't know how well he could take a punch since we'd never really seen him have to take much before.
DeGale was winning every round, controlling the distance beautifully, showing great defence and popping Smith with some snappy shots. He looked like he had higher gears still to reach and while Smith was not taking a real beating he was running out of ideas and was unable to get close to DeGale or to really land with anything.
When the fight ended in the 9th round DeGale caught Smith with some good clean shots that caused the scouser to rock back onto the ropes. Although Smith still had his hands up and was arguing that the stoppage was premature it was quite well timed by the ref. He may have wanted more of a chance to fight back but there was only one winner at this stage.
DeGale has showed that he has huge potential and he really looks world class already. He has great natural skill and he showed a great attitude.
Some people don't like James DeGale - they find him too cocky and arrogant - but although there may be a fine line between confidence and arrogance I think James is on the right side of this line. He's a confident man on a mission to win a world title and he believes in his abilities - there's nothing wrong with that.
He comes across as a nice guy, he's respectful where deserved and I think in the not too distant future Britain will have another world champ to be proud of.
