How important is Degale's next fight?

James Degale steps into the ring against wilczewski on Saturday following his loss to George Groves. For obvious reasons this fight has not garnered the same attention as his fight with Groves but for me this contest may be the most important of his career. As a victorious Olympian Degale has had to live with the added pressure in his pro career,and he was doing good up until he met the saint. Loosing 1 fight is a set back but it does not mean the end of the road but to loose two on the trot can be at least 1 nail in the coffin.

I hope Degale wins as I hardly know anything about the other fighter who no doubt will need a ko but for me this fight,although not billed as such, is the biggest test for Degale. What do you guys think?

Your next fight is always the most important of your career, I've never understood why that question is asked

Coming off a loss after being undefeated bares some significance on this fight that is why I asked the question.

I could see this being a similar situation to Khan in some ways. Whilst the loss was in a different manner, he can now continue without the fear of protecting that '0'. He has always seemed very confident/cocky - and so maybe this means he will now step up the professionalism and not be in fear of loosing an unbeaten record. I think it was great for Khan to taste defeat and then make changes as a result. De Gale can do this too. I'm pretty confident he will win this fight - as others have pointed out, there would be no way Warren is taking a risk with this.

We'll see how he goes for the next few years - whilst not being he greatest talent, i'm confident he'll win a world title (WBO...). Not a boxer I particularly like, but he'll now improve (he's got some skills) and i suspect continue to be carefully managed.

I wonder what his mind set will be. Does he go out needing to impress or will he take a more professional approach as you say SportmanGC. As I have said I don't know an awful lot about this guy except that to beat an Olympian is a huge step up the ladder. We will see but Degale has to have a mature mind for this fight because it could be a potential banana skin if he lets his loss to Groves effect him.

53% important

I don't think that a loss would necessarily be the end of the world, although it would obviously be distinctly unhelpful. So much depends on whether DeGale shows that he has learned something from the Groves fight. I made the point at the time that both DeGale and Groves are extremely wet behind the ears in professional terms and both, especially DeGale, still exhibit some seriously amateurish traits, which is scarcely surprising. DeGale has a habit of stepping back to admire his handiwork after a flurry or a good single shot, as though wanting to ensure that the judges have seen it.

I do hope that in any case, Wilczewski provides DeGale with the sort of test that will show how much he has absorbed since May. If he proves that he has developed a more rounded game and a more solid base from which to proceed, then the result perhaps needn't matter in the long run. If he just runs out of ideas and drops a decision, let's say, then I would think that a loss would leave him with alarmingly few options.

captain carrantuohil wrote:I don't think that a loss would necessarily be the end of the world, although it would obviously be distinctly unhelpful. So much depends on whether DeGale shows that he has learned something from the Groves fight. I made the point at the time that both DeGale and Groves are extremely wet behind the ears in professional terms and both, especially DeGale, still exhibit some seriously amateurish traits, which is scarcely surprising. DeGale has a habit of stepping back to admire his handiwork after a flurry or a good single shot, as though wanting to ensure that the judges have seen it.

I do hope that in any case, Wilczewski provides DeGale with the sort of test that will show how much he has absorbed since May. If he proves that he has developed a more rounded game and a more solid base from which to proceed, then the result perhaps needn't matter in the long run. If he just runs out of ideas and drops a decision, let's say, then I would think that a loss would leave him with alarmingly few options.

Very true I think they both need to learn the trade a bit more but this loss for Degale has come quite early in his career. Maybe a fight of that magnitude was a little too early for him anyhow he now has to put it behind him and go into this next bout without the loss playing on his mind. If as you say Wilczewski comes to fight and give it a go then it could be a long night. I suspect we will learn a lot of Degale in this fight.

6/1 for the pole seems like very tasty odds, don't know much about the chap but his record doesn't seem a million miles off De Gales, whom I must say even before the Groves matchup I'm not over sold on, there's something about him that makes him look totally beatable, he doesn't seem to have a solid jab and I worry he doesn't hit hard enough when he steps up against the premier fighters.