Former Gold medalist James DeGale wins pro debut
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Bill Jempty | Sunday, March 1, 2009 |
He was the only British fighter to win a medal at the Beijing games. From AP-
Olympic middleweight gold medalist James DeGale won his first pro fight Saturday night, a dominating points win over Vepkhia Tchilaia.
Despite winning each round, jeers rang out at the National Indoor Arena as Britain’s lone boxing champion from the Beijing Games failed to provide the excitement sections of the crowd were demanding.
“I had to track him down and bang him around and it was tough,” DeGale said. “I’m never happy with my performances — even at the Olympics — that was just 30 percent of me.”
A systematic approach lacking urgency was adopted against the 21-year-old Georgian, who dropped to 9-9. The tactical fight was a stark contrast to DeGale’s sloppy Olympic gold medal bout with Cuba’s Emilio Correa.
“It was a learning curve. What do you want me to do?” DeGale said. “I don’t want to be silly and get knocked out. He’s running, he’s tucking up. I still had a couple of good shots.
“You lot are going to see the best of me when someone is there and wants it just as much as me.”
Two less than impressive fights don’t mean DeGale isn’t championship material. With the many weight categories there are in boxing today, not to mention the myriad of boxing federtaions(IBF, WBC, WBA,), I wouldn’t bet against him holding at least one title before his boxing days are over.
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