James DeGale
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| James DeGale MBE |
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| Statistics | |
| Real name | James Frederick DeGale |
| Rated at | Super middleweight |
| Nationality |   English |
| Born | 3 February 1986 Lenton, Nottingham, England |
| Stance | Southpaw |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 11 |
| Wins | 10 |
| Wins by KO | 8 |
| Losses | 1 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 0 |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's Boxing | ||
| Competitor for United Kingdom |
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| Olympic Games | ||
| Gold | 2008 Beijing | Middleweight |
| Competitor for England |
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| Commonwealth Games | ||
| Bronze | 2006 Melbourne | Middleweight |
| EU Amateur Championships | ||
| Silver | 2007 Dublin | Middleweight |
| Silver | 2008 Cetniewo | Middleweight |
James Frederick DeGale MBE (born 3 February 1986) is an English boxer and Olympic gold medalist. He was born in Harlesden, London. He started amateur boxing at the Trojan club at the age of 10 before moving to Dale Youth boxing club.[1] As a boy he soon acquired the nickname Chunky[2] a name that has followed him throughout his career and to this day he is known as James ‘Chunky’ DeGale. The predominantly southpaw Londoner fights as a switchhitter. At the Commonwealth Games 2006 he won Bronze when he lost to Jarrod Fletcher.
He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours. [3]
[edit] Amateur career
Degale represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the Middleweight boxing event, winning the gold medal. In the quarter finals he beat a former Olympic gold medalist from Athens (Bakhtiyar Artayev) and in the semi-final once again beat the late Irishman Darren Sutherland (prior to this latest meeting the boxers had fought five times with Sutherland winning four and DeGale only one). In the final DeGale won a scrappy and bad tempered affair against the Cuban Emilio Correa who was deducted two points in the first round for biting DeGale's shoulder.[4]
[edit] World amateur championships results
2007 (as a middleweight)
- Lost to Alfonso Blanco (Venezuela) 13–28
[edit] Olympic results
2008
- Defeated Mohamed Hikal (Egypt) 13–4
- Defeated Shawn Estrada (USA) 11–5
- Defeated Bakhtiyar Artayev (Kazakhstan) 8–3
- Defeated Darren Sutherland (Ireland) 10–3
- Defeated Emilio Correa (Cuba) 16–
[edit] Professional career
On 2 December 2008, he agreed a deal with promoter Frank Warren to become professional along with Frankie Gavin and Billy Joe Saunders. The contract agreed is rumoured to be worth around £1.5 million.[5] On 28 February 2009 DeGale made his professional debut against Georgia boxer Vepkhia Tchilaia, winning the fight on points 40–36. DeGale came in for a mixed reaction, being booed off after being taken the distance by his little-known opponent. However DeGale has been backed by many, as the Georgian was boxing extremely defensively.[6] Five more victories followed before DeGale won his first title, the WBA International super-middleweight title, defeating Sam Horton by 5th round TKO. On 18 September, 2010, DeGale made the first defence of his WBA title against fellow Brit Carl Dilks, gaining victory by TKO after just 2'54" of the first round.
Frank Warren revealed that DeGale would challenge Paul Smith for the British Super Middleweight title on Warren's blockbuster event in Liverpool, set for 11th December at the Echo Arena. On the huge bill includes fellow Olympians; Frankie Gavin and Billy Joe Saunders, Nathan Cleverly and Kell Brook. On 11 December, DeGale went on to beat Paul Smith via ninth round TKO in order to become the British Super-Middleweight Champion.
On 21 May 2011, DeGale lost to George Groves. The judges scored the bout 115–115, 115–114, 115–114.
DeGale signed a contract to face Polish, European champion Piotr Wilczewski on the 15th October.
On the 15th of October 2011, DeGale beat Piotr Wilczewski by majority decision to win the European Super-Middleweight title in the Echo Arena Liverpool.
[edit] Professional boxing record
| 11 Wins (8 knockouts), 1 Defeat, 0 Draws[7] | |||||||
| Res. | Rd | Opponnent | Type | Round | Date | Location | Notes |
| Win | 11-1 |  Piotr Wilczewski |
MD | 12 | 15 Oct 2011 | Liverpool Echo Arena |
Wilczewski's European title on the line |
| Loss | 10–1 | George Groves |
MD | 12 | 21 May 2011 | The O2 Arena, London |
Lost British super-middleweight title |
| Win | 10–0 |  Alpay Kobal |
TKO | 5 | 12 March 2011 |  Braehead Arena, Glasgow |
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| Win | 9–0 | Paul Smith |
TKO | 9 | 11 December 2010 | Echo Arena, Liverpool |
Won British super-middleweight title |
| Win | 8–0 | Carl Dilks |
TKO | 1 | 18 September 2010 | LG Arena, Birmingham |
BBBofC British super-middleweight title eliminator |
| Win | 7–0 | Sam Horton |
TKO | 5 | 15 May 2010 | Upton Park, London |
WBA International super middleweight title |
| Win | 6–0 | Matthew Barr |
TKO | 2 | 13 February 2010 | Wembley Arena, London |
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| Win | 5–0 |  Nathan King |
PTS | 4 | 5 December 2009 | Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle |
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| Win | 4–0 | Ally Morrison |
TKO | 3 | 30 October 2009 | Echo Arena, Liverpool |
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| Win | 3–0 |  Ciaran Healy |
TKO | 1 | 18 July 2009 | M.E.N. Arena, Manchester |
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| Win | 2–0 |  Jindrich Kubin |
TKO | 1 | 15 May 2009 | Odyssey Arena, Belfast |
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| Win | 1–0 |  Vepkhia Tchilaia |
PTS | 4 | 28 February 2009 | National Indoor Arena, Birmingham |
Professional debut |
[edit] References
- ^ Mathew,Syed."Dale Youth Boxing Club", The Times, 2005-10-07
- ^ "James DeGale Bio". British Olympic Association. 2009-08. http://www.olympics.org.uk/athletebio.aspx?at=6748.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 58929. p. 15. 31 December 2008.
- ^ Superb DeGale lands boxing gold. BBC. 23 August 2008
- ^ Lewis, Ron. "James DeGale's dream of double gold ends", The Times, 2008-12-03
- ^ "British trio make winning starts". BBC News. 1 March 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7917216.stm. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
- ^ James DeGale – Boxer. Boxrec.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-09.
[edit] External links
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- 1986 births
- Living people
- English boxers
- Middleweight boxers
- Boxers at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
- Boxers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Olympic boxers of Great Britain
- Olympic gold medalists for Great Britain
- English people of Grenadian descent
- People from Harlesden
- Black British sportspeople
- Members of the Order of the British Empire
- Amateur Boxing Association of England champions
- Olympic medalists in boxing
