Ok. What's the deal ? Why are there so many people wishing he will fail ? He was even booed this week-end in his home country. I have not really followed what happened in between now and last summer but WTF ? Did he said something in the newspaper that poed many people ? Why are people so eager to see a 23 year old fail ?
He can come across as a bit arrogant which pissed some people of. Also Calzaghe and Chris Eubank made comments in the press saying that because some olympic gold medalists get multi-million pound/dollar contracts before they have even had their first pro fight it could take away some of their hunger as most fighters (Calzaghe and Eubank included) had to start of at the bottom earning peanuts at the start of their respective careers so they had that hunger because not only were they fighting to fulfill their boxing dreams they were also fighting to earn money to pay the bills. Degale took this to heart and i think he made a couple of disparaging remarks about these fighter's although im not completely sure of what he did say. I don't think Degale should have taken it so personally. Chris and Joe weren't directly having a go at him and saying he will fail because he himself has lost his hunger. They were more just using him as an example of a situation were a young athlete from any sport may lose hunger due to getting so much so early in their career. This along with his general demeaner which is very confident and is viewed by some as cocky is why some want him to fail. To his own credit he does realise this. Apparently he has described himself as like marmite; you either love him or hate him. Its good to see that he's not so far up his own arse that he thinks everyone thinks hes as good as he thinks he is. Personally im not to bothered. Im undecided on what i think of him as a person or a boxer as i haven't seen much of him but he is British and so am i so i hope he succeeds for that reason alone.
I think because he got a huge financial pro deal before earning it and people remember the same early deal/celebrity stuff with Audley Harrison very well and also Amir Khan joining the pop culture circus while fighting much smaller nobodys too long. People are sick of hyped up olympic cash cows appearing in glossy magazines as much as the ring. I think the booing was very harsh for his debut fight and I don't want to see him fail but I do want to see him fight a lot better than he did - didn't live up to his talk. Yes he had a dull turtleshell opponent but his style really did look amatuerish - especially compared to Frankie Gavin fighting beforehand. He did show some maturity in dealing with the booing and hopefully he'll get better. At least he was aknowledging his need to learn for the next couple of years and no 'i want to be world champ in less than 2 years' rubbish like we heard from his predecessors.
Ever since the olympics hes be running his mouth...maybe he should wait to acheive something in pro ranks before doing so.
Ok I can understand. But he's not the one at fault for making all that money. Someone agreed to pay him all that.
Of course but some people are like that. Same reason the Joe Calzaghe was so controversial I guess. Not saying that Calzaghe didn't proved he was right but he had been claiming he was the best way before he even fought Lacy. All I'm saying, is that arrogance is not always a seller.
I don't mind a bit of cockiness, surely its expected a little bit.. He's with Warren though.. most people want him to fail. He'll be 59-0 if warren has anything to do with it.
:good These statements are true.If he is going to be cocky,he can't afford to come to the ring and tit tat his opponent with back hand slaps.He has put pressure on himself IMO
British fans in all sports love to build someone up and then knock them down. See David Beckham, Paul Gascoigne, Ian Botham, Lewis Hamilton...
DeGale has taken a shortcut then. He's missed out getting built up and has gone straight to getting knocked down.
ive never came on this board and slagged anyone off, but for some reason wjen ever i see james Degale, i only want bad things to hapen to him... its been a long time since i saw a man with less charisma be so arrogant. sure he is talented, but he couldnt fill a fish bowl never mind an international arena.
All fight British fight fans should be happy to see their boys turning pro and making some noise there. GB 's national squad which participated at the last olympics was the best for ages. There are some pretty talented and promising young lads in today's British amateur scene. I very much doubt that the Americans can say the same about their amateur talents.
