EXCLUSIVE James DeGale would drop weight to fight Gennady Golovkin

James DeGale

JAMES DEGALE makes the first defence of his IBF super-middleweight title on Saturday (November 28) against Lucien Bute in Quebec, Canada. If, as expected, DeGale prevails, heโ€™s looking forward to a big year in 2016.

โ€œA massive year, there are some big names in the division. Badou Jack [the WBC champion] is the one I want, in Vegas,โ€ James said. โ€œItโ€™s about unifying titles, he beat George Groves [DeGaleโ€™s rival, who holds a win over him], plus itโ€™s in Las Vegas, one of my dreams. Imagine boxing in the MGM, in front of how many thousand, unifying titles. Itโ€™s a dream, he beat Groves, plus I get paid for it so itโ€™s all good.โ€

Heโ€™s confident that it can happen. โ€œ[Al Haymon] gives me three opponents and I tell [him who I want to fight]. Iโ€™m in such a good position. When I hear fighters thank Al Haymon [I know why]. Iโ€™m going to be thanking Al Haymon, trust me. Itโ€™s not just that he pays you well, heโ€™s a very, very nice humble intelligent man and all he cares about is his fighters,โ€ James said.

Heโ€™s targeting next summer for his major fight. โ€œThis is why Iโ€™m so easy to work with because Iโ€™m willing to fight anyone. If they say [Gennady] Golovkin, why not?โ€ he said. โ€œIโ€™d rather he came up to super-middle, I donโ€™t think heโ€™s big, heโ€™s five foot eight. He hits extremely hard, he cuts off the ring very well. But Iโ€™m telling you, he got beaten before in the amateurs. He got Olympic silver…ย Trust me, heโ€™s beatable.โ€

He would be willing to shed a few pounds to make that fight at a catchweight. He reckons he could make 164lbs. โ€œAs an amateur I made 75 kilos on the morning of the [bout],โ€ James noted.

An appealing fight for a British audience would be Chris Eubank Jnr. โ€œFor a big stadium fight,โ€ DeGale mused. โ€œHe carries that name, obviously, Eubank. Youโ€™ve see it helps him a lot along the way because he [Chris Snr] is always there, giving his bit. If he carries on winning and carries on looking good and people want to see the fight, why not? If he wins a world title, he comes up in weight, itโ€™s catchweight or whatever and it sells, letโ€™s do it. It could well sell.

โ€œBut Iโ€™m not too sure if heโ€™s going to get past Gary Oโ€™Sullivan, Iโ€™ve heard heโ€™s looking really good and heโ€™s a good fighter. Billy Joe Saunders rates him so weโ€™ll see.โ€

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