Tonight’s spoilers

The Chris Eubank Jr beat a badly faded James DeGale by unanimous decision. The cards read 114-112 115-112 117-109. Eubank dropped DeGale twice, once in the second and once in the tenth. DeGale showed incredible heart to see the Bell after the second knock down as Eubank was landing massive punches. Rather bizarrely Eubank did some sort of wrestling move in the eleventh and was docked a point. DeGale likely to retire. 

On the undercard Joe Joyce KO’d former WBC champion Bermane Stiverne inside 6 rounds. Stiverne was in terrible shape coming in well over 19st. Joyce is now mandatory for Joshua’s WBA belt. 

Lee Selby made his debut at lightweight and struggled, ultimately got a narrow unanimous decision. Selby’s lack of power means he’s likely to become a champion at 135.

DeGale was very poor. Commendable heart and toughness of course, but next to nowt else. Some of his recent performances and soundbites have suggested a man who is tired and has one eye on retirement, and on the evidence of this he really is running on fumes now. Losing so many rounds to a limited, one-paced guy like Eubank Jr would have been unimaginable for DeGale three or four years ago.

Thirty-three isn't particularly old these days, but DeGale has often found a way to make fights a bit harder for himself than he need have, eating unnecessary shots. I've heard he's incredibly focused once in camp, but also that when he's away from the gym he likes to live it up a bit. These things coupled together, plus his reliance on speed, might explain why he seems to have aged pretty badly compared to some others.

With the Groves rematch off the table there's not much left for him to stick around for, but for whatever reason I see him fighting again before too long.

Chris Eubank Jr seems to have the physical attributes to be an excellent boxer but lacks something upstairs - that prevents him acquiring the necessary boxing skills and ringcraft. At age 29 he is probably too old to change, meaning he will always come unstuck against a skilled world level boxer.

No name Bertie wrote:Chris Eubank Jr seems to have the physical attributes to be an excellent boxer but lacks something upstairs - that prevents him acquiring the necessary boxing skills and ringcraft.  At age 29 he is probably too old to change, meaning he will always come unstuck against a skilled world level boxer.

We were saying exactly this while watching the fight.

Two other bouts took place in Mexico and America last night.

Humberto Soto beat Brandon Rios by unanimous decision in your typical Mexican brawl.

Anthony Dirrell won the vacant WBC super middleweight championship by a technical split decision after suffering a back cut from a head butt. Dirrell says he'll retire after his next bout rumoured to be a unification against Caleb Plant.