Nobody giving Wilczewski a chance?

I was interested to look through union's extraordinarily thorough prediction league and note that absolutely nobody is giving Piotr Wilczewski the slightest chance of upsetting the applecart against DeGale. Most favour the Brit by decision or late stoppage; there is the occasional early stoppage prediction mixed in.

Can this be right? The best of the Pole's opposition looks to be on a par (for now) with DeGale's, and he certainly has much more experience in the professional game. Might this not be a dangerous one for dear James? Or does Wilczewski really not have enough to trouble him?

I haven't investigated the odds yet on a Polish decision, but they're bound to be sporting. I wonder if we haven't stumbled across a good value bet here.

I don't know much about him, Captain, but I'd imagine the Degale camp are very very confident of winning this one, given the impact that a defeat would have upon James' career directly after the Groves loss. Would they have risked it if there was a possibility of him losing? I'm not so sure.

I dont know much about the guy to be honest. Have never seen him box before. The fight being in the UK though means alot. A half decent flurry by DeGale may see the ref step in at some point going off recent bouts and if the fight is anyway close DeGale will get the nod. Probably not as risky as it seems on paper I would guess.

I think most people are working on the presumption (be it right or wrong) that there is no way Warren would put his golden-boy Degale in with anyone who might be capable of causing an upset, as another defeat would surely spell the end for Degale's credibility (although probably not his WBO world title hopes).

You are welcome to join the league by the way, Captain, shall I put you down for a Wilczewski UD?

Thanks Union, but the only reason that I haven't joined in up to now is that there are too many bouts where I know next to nothing about the relevant fighters. I would therefore be guessing perhaps half the time, which is probably not the idea!

However, if I can be allowed to stick to the fighters where I at least have some vague idea of form, then I'd be honoured to participate. Wilczewski UD 12 seems a reasonably controversial place to start, and may pay particular dividends if I'm actually right!

You're in a better position than most if you're only guessing half the time to be honest!

Not seen him fight but knowing that Degale's got Fwank behind him and that the fight's taking place in the UK I can imagine that, as Manos says:

A half decent flurry by DeGale may see the ref step in at some point going off recent bouts and if the fight is anyway close DeGale will get the nod.

Youre certainly likely to fair better than Union as he is propping up the table as things stand

i give him no chance,he is not a huge banger from his record and he has no chance of getting a decision in England and if Brooks fight is anything to go by then he will be stopped as soon as Degale lands three punches in a row on him

Having watched Groves and Booth lay the blueprint for beating DeGale, you'd think Wilczewski's team would fancy their chances. The variables are whether or not Degale has actually learned from the Groves loss or is he simply going to stick with his early winning formula? Do Degale and McDonnell have the nous to assess a contest mid fight and make any adjustments in time of will they stick with Plan A until it's desperation time?

As suggested above, it would be a massive change of heart for Warren to stick one of his cash cows in with a fighter who might upset the applecart, however, if Degale is to make us believe he has genuine world class ability, he's going to have to go back in with decent opposition as a rebuild from scratch is likely to put a few noses out of joint.

if he turns up like he did for groves he could lose, but i dont know owt about his opponent, so went for degale UD. i think another poor showing will spell the end for degale, his confidence will take a battering as he seems to be more worried about what people think of him that he should

Well he is Ebu champ, This isn't a vacant title, so whether he's any good or not this is the only "choice" opponent for Degale as he's the belt holder!!

Whether he's any good or not is another thing but looking on boxrec he's a similar height to degale, has stopped a decent fighter in amin askinainen ( Who Macklin stopped in a round!!) So who knows!!

De Gale will win this easily imo he will have too much quality for this guy Warren knows what he is doing and this guy is not in De Gales class.

Ever since the first magnificent seven card last year I've noticed a theme of warren fighters on warren cards earning soft stoppages by refs intervening earlier than the fans would expect. UK refs seem to have a tendency to do this now, exemplified again in the Brook fight on Saturday.

Not seen anything of the pole, but he's not a puncher and I can foresee the ref stepping in as soon as DeGale lands half a dozen unanswered shots in the second half of the fight - which is why I've gone DeGale LKO.

Think Captain wernt far off the mark with this one. Good shout