Time for "Chunky" to hang them up?

Yes 100%

 

He'd retired before the 1st bell was rung tonight

 

I hope this answers the question.

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Not taking anything away from Junior tonight, but Degale is done. I was saying Junior would destroy him before the fight was announced...However, I watched the face to face and stupidly let my ego think that the boxer would have too much for the smaller fighter.

Shame to see Degale like that. The man had superb footwork, switching angles and throwing punches in bunches...tonight, he was off balance constantly, moved back in straight lines, threw single shots and was a pale shadow of his former self.

 

Yea his head isn’t in it anymore.
He’s only 33 but he looked terrible.

 

It was interesting watching the Groves interview after the fight. Obviously he dislikes Degale hugely so we can take it with a pinch of salt...he reckoned Degale was concussed after the Jack fight and never really recovered from it. When you look and listen to Degale now, he does seem a little punch drunk and tonight, his punch resistance was gone.

This sounds a bit like I should be wearing a flowery frock or something, but I genuinely find it so sad and deflating seeing a once class fighter like that. Father Time comes for every fighter where they can no longer do the things they once could...but Degale looks cognitively fragile. Really wished he’d retired after the Jack fight in hindsight. Such a dangerous sport, these lads are warriors.

 

DeGale has never really kicked on from the Dirrell win. After losing to Groves in 2011 he had a three year spell stuck on Channel 5, fighting against journeymen in front of smaller crowds in makeshift venues, and he looked a million miles away from being even a half-decent titlist, never mind anyone with aspirations of being a divisional king.

He said those poor performances were down in part to a lack of motivation and disillusionment with those circumstances, and to be fair once he get on the Matchroom roster he did seem to be relishing the higher profile and better opponents. I think after beating Dirrell for the IBF and Froch started making noises about maybe taking the fight, DeGale really was convinced it was going to happen...And once it didn't, he perhaps took his eye off the ball and started drifting towards indifference again.

Have honestly never rated Eubank Jr., so it could well be a warning sign that the game is now up for Chunky. With the lucrative Groves rematch also unavailable, it'd probably be the smart decision to call it quits. But boxers too often fail to make the smart decision.

 

His mum should retire him now. Needs protecting from himself now. Go and live by the sea somewhere, get his head back together.

 

I agree. I think he knows he’s done though, he said he’s done basically himself. The human body is a crazy thing, it’s powers of recovery are unbelievable in some ways but when you can see what 36 minutes of someone’s life can take out of a person it’s absolutely mind blowing. I actually was one of the few that thought he nicked the Jack fight and bar the late kd he would have won’t the fight. It’s easy to say he should have retired then but at that time
Why the hell would he, it would have been a career best win without the kd and he was only 31. The tiny margains in this sport are almost impossible to get your head around.

Also, I think he’d need a stronger influence than his mum. I know most men wouldn’t listen to their mum on an issue like this, manager or not. I dunno what his male role models/friends are like in his life but I think they’d be probably much more persuasive. Who truly listens to their mum in matters like this. Even though they are might be right a lot of the time.

 

At his best DeGale took a lot of punches. He could slip and slide brilliantly but gave himself tough rounds in every fight he had so it's no surprise he's aged young. Especially if he likes to party, as speculated.

I called this fight perfectly early after it was announced which I don't do often. I knew it would be guaranteed entertainment with Eubank's intensity proving too much for the aging DeGale. Eubank's style is literally kryptonite for a guy slowing down and losing punch resistance.

In fairness to Junior, he looked slightly improved. He tightened up certain punches and utilised his attributes at good times in the fight, breaking DeGale down. There's certain styles he will butcher every time, and certain styles he'll lose to every time. Needs to avoid Callum Smith at all costs but I get a feeling he'll pick up a strap at some stage and make a few weak defences perhaps.

I'll give Eubank one thing, he's never in a dull fight.

 

Definitely, everything looked gone tonight. His footwork wasn't there, his balance was awful, as well as his punch resistance now almost non-existent. Eubank Jr, who was a lot smaller than him, and who wasn't even a punch at MW, more an accumulation TKO artist, was able to rock him with almost all the meaning ful punches he landed.

And the mere fact that a couple of years ago, i still think that, although with the way DeGale has rounds off it would always have been a fairly close fight, i think everyone can objectively say Chunky would've been firm favourite to beat Eubank, and rightly so.

 

I feel bad for chunky, his two best wins were robbed from him due to bad judging in the Groves and Jack fights. Holds good wins over Dirrell and Bute though.

Time to hang them up.

 

He should have retired after the 1st Truax fight, which he lost and was lucky to have not been stopped in.

Since then he may have caused further damage to his health. He certainly looked worse last night than ever before.

In the loss last night the following was clear

Reflexes gone
Punchitis (couldn’t pull trigger)
Punch resistance gone
Judgement of distance off (hence the lunging in and holding was worse than ever)
Footwork all over the place (although could still pivot)

This is a serious situation for him and wish him a full and healthy retirement.

Retire please !!!

 

Young CHRIS is collecting names, retiring British greats

First George now James..

BJS has already started talking about retirement, the young war machine is the last man on earth you want to share a ring with once that word has entered your psyche

Bill to lose the rematch to Chris, then retire after the trilogy fight?

Saunders is not getting any younger either is he...