OK well I don't hate him. Tell me what makes a man very nearly knocked out this weekend by a very medicore polish fighter who was brought in to make him look good. The champion was selected the basis that he had being utterly destroyed in his only fight approcahing interational class by Curtis Stephens and surely Degale who was a world class amateur would be capable of handling a guy with such a low stoppage percentage and lack of top level competition? I'll tell you why Kenny will beat him, because he doesn't waste shots. He closes the ring down far better then the pole. He hits harder then the polish dude. He's smarter. Takes a better shot and won't run out of steam with a full training camp. I know this because I train with Kenny every week and see what he can do in the gym.
I have to say I think it would be a very good fight and I doubt either one could make it look one sided. Hope it gets made but highly doubt it will!!!
My heart and my head are starting to tell me this. I keep getting talked into thinking Degale is something that all evidence suggests he is not. I remember being convinced when they turned pro that Sutherland would bash him up. Anderson looks decent and obviously Froch's comments have seen his stock rise, but we need to see him in against the likes of Groves (again, Degale, Smith, Jeffries etc to determin how good he is. For the record I think he would brutalise jeffries unless he got caught with something silly!!!
By the way Jeff, never congratulated you on your brave performance in PF. Great Left hook!!! Still undefeated ion PF as well!!! Has gotta earn you a return at somepoint maybe down a weight.
It seems to me that Degale gets dragged down to the level of his opponent. He should have dealt with the polish fella a lot easier than he did on saturday. He has done this before but then produced the goods against Paul Smith. He will have to produce a very good performance to deal with Kenny Anderson thats for sure. Would love to see the fight but at this stage I'd go for Kenny to beat Degale.
If he hadn't fallen in on his work like he always does he would have had the polish guy out of there after the uppercut in the second round or whenever it was.
I see where you are coming from, but at the same time that logic would suggest that DeGale should have looked worse against a couple of his early opponents, when actually he looked great against them. And Paul Smith really wasn't great that night - I didn't think that DeGale looked any better there than he did against Groves, indeed I thought he looked worse. The difference between the two results was the opponent rather than DeGale, imho. DeGale seems to have lost something since his early fights, to me, and needs to find it or risk picking up more than just the one defeat. Still to be talking about world titles seems premature at this stage. I hope that the European belt does not make him assume that the Groves fight was just a blip. Audley Harrison was European Champion, after all - it doesn't necessarily mean much.
All hating aside, this is the bottom line. Beating Paul Smith really doesn't prove anything. Any decent level of fighter will beat him. This bull**** of "he fights to his opponent's level" is just weird. He lost to the best guy he faced. He nearly got stopped by a fighter another fringe-level SMW destroyed. At what point do people start judging DeGale by what he does, rather than some imaginary potential that he's, to my eyes, never displayed.
Fair point. I thought he looked good against Paul Smith to be honest, if he brought that performance on saturday he would have been a comfortable winner. He struggled against Groves IMO but there is no shame in that, Groves is a quality fighter and I think time will prove that. Kennty Anderson would be a hard nights work for any of the 3 fighters mentioned above if he gets the right preparation. Either way I'm excited by the domestic tussles in that division, get them made eh!!!