By Sheldan Keay
James DeGale will fight for the European super-middleweight title on home soil in September, despite surrendering the British strap in his latest bout. DeGale, an Olympic champion, saw his reputation dented when he suffered a narrow points defeat to George Groves, his long-standing rival, in May. But he now has an immediate opportunity to bounce back against European champion Piotr Wilczewski, who has lost once in 30 fights and is ranked third in the world by the WBO.
Speaking about the situation, DeGale said "Challenging for the European title is a fantastic opportunity to get myself back in the big picture in my first fight back, I've been hard in training since my last fight and I'm ready to box tomorrow if I need to, come September I'll be in great shape. The fight with Groves is in the past, I still believe I beat him, but I'm a positive person and now I'm focused on the future and a win will put me in a great position for a world title."
"My promoter Frank Warren has done a great job in getting me home advantage for this title shot and now I've got to go out there, do the business and win it in style," DeGale said. In fact, I'm about to sign a new three-year deal with Frank and I'm really happy that he will continue to build my career as he has done since I turned professional. He brought Amir Khan back from a devastating knockout loss to a world title so I know that he can do it for me."
But Warren has warned DeGale that another defeat would send his career hurtling into reverse. "This is a make or break fight for James. He's got a big opportunity in front of him against Wilczewski and now has to go out there a deliver the goods and show the fans what he can do," he said. The fight announcement puts to an end any speculation that a rematch with George Groves could culminate, and instead it appears that DeGale has come out of the fight better off than Groves, despite Groves being the victor.
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