Degale responds to Eubanks Comments on the Bunce Hour

[jspain]

this is taken from the setanta website - says degale is upset with comments that eubank made on the boxing hour

James DeGale insists he will prove Chris Eubank wrong and become the next British boxing superstar.

Speaking ahead of his debut in the Birmingham NIA on Saturday night against Georgian Vepkhia Tchilaia, DeGale reacted to the comments Eubank made on Steve Bunce's Boxing Hour some weeks ago.

Eubank felt it was impossible for DeGale to be successful, not due to any personal failing, but because he could not see how a fighter could have the drive to succeed when given the rewards that the Olympic gold medallist has enjoyed.

While admitting he respected Eubank's achievements in the ring, DeGale said he was wrong to make this judgment and insists he retains an overwhelming hunger to succeed as a professional.

"Chris is a nut, he has lost the plot," DeGale told sport.co.uk. "He is a bit mad. He is a good fighter so I cannot say anything bad about that. But there was no need to say those things.

"I wish he would just give me a break. Firstly, I do not have all this money that people think I do, I have to earn it. Secondly, I am committed to what I do and this is my job, my hunger will never go,

"I was pretty upset that he came out and said what he did. Maybe he is a little jealous that I won an Olympic gold medal and he did not even make the Olympics.

"I am the new star, the people are looking for someone to replace Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe and I am that man to be the next British hero."

i have two comments on this , wasnt it degale who first mentioned how much money he was offered. that sticks in the public mind regardless of how much he got paid up front. also ricky hatton is not gone anywhere just yet.

[jspain]

I have nothing against DeGale, I do not know the guy and hope he does well, but someone who knows nothing about boxing asked me when he is fight. Surprised I answered and they said, "I hope the arrogant beep gets knocked out." Pretty shocking when you conisder that he won gold. Khan won Silver and was perceived well, what is DeGale doing wrong?

i dont know what he has done wrong. maybe he comes accross as cocky and arrogant and talks himself up. although most boxers talk themselves up and some do be cocky due to believing they are the best. a boxer has to have self belief or he will get nowhere.

i think once he mentioned how much money he was getting , people just assumed he was getting all that now. he propably should have never mentioned money. none of the other boxers who have recently turned pro have mentioned money at all from what i have heard.

[Captain Hook]

Degale has no personality and is an arrogant sod, but to be fair a lot of it is (once again) linked to his promoter.

I gurantee he'd have had more well wishers had he signed with another.

[Chambers2]

I don't think Eubanks comments were a direct attack at Degale, Chris was just commenting on 'The silk pyjamas syndrome' where gold medallists are setup for life without throwing a punch in the pro ranks and therefore some lose their desire.

Hopefully Chris's comments will spur James on even more (it's all a ploy by Eubank to get the best out of James IMO )

COME ON JAMES DEGALE!

[NRH]

Being self confident and even a bit arrogant is fine. But this kid's talking like Eubank is just jealous of his gold medal!

The guy's been a 2 weightclass world champ and has done more for the sport than you ever will James you donut. The guy just makes himself seem like a serious prick. It's not even funny like when Nas used to talk shit.

Can't wait to see Degale get sparked now.

[champ4ever]

talks out of his arse that's what the problem is, he's just said that eubank could be jelous of him because he won gold at the olympics, you know comments like that are laughable.

the way degale is acting is like he's the only fighter in history to be criticised, for fucks sake every boxer gets criticsed at one point in their career, even muhammad ali, and chris eubank aswell, it's how you handle that criticism, and so far degale it's getting all too emotional for my liking. he's whinging too much, and i don't like that, too me it shows he's quite mentally fragile.

good luck to him. i hope he proves a lot of people wrong, but he can only do that in the ring like eubank, and all the other boxers have done.

[Coco]

It is an interesting point that amateurs stars are at a disadvantage because signing pro makes them instant millionaires.
I think the likes of Haglar and Eubank for example had a mental edge through coming up the hard way, thats not to say they would not have had that emotional grit anyway.
Marvin did say though that it was hard to get out of bed when you are wearing silk PJ's!
I think financial success dimmed Hamed's ambition as well
There are obvious examples where it didn't hurt fighters though, ODLH springs to mind

[fluxstuff]

At this stage, all DeGale needs to say is "Yeah, I've got a lot to prove, but I think I've got the good. I'll enjoy proving Chris wrong."

And, yes, Eubank IS mad, but he was also awesome in his prime. The level of bravery and skill (even within his limitations) is something every fighter should admire.

[Coco]

It must depend to some extent on a fighters motives for boxing, I presume a genuine hunger to financially survive, pay the rent and to provide your family with the niceties outweighs just the glory of winning, but everyone is different

[J]

Degale has no personality and is an arrogant sod, but to be fair a lot of it is (once again) linked to his promoter.

I gurantee he'd have had more well wishers had he signed with another.

and Joe calzage was mr Charisma 2009?

its bullshit allthis they leave the lad alone. We could do with a new breed coming through and the geezer did us proud at the Olympics

we shoudl at least give him a chance, and eubank should shut the fornicate up, no one listens to him anyway he is quite clearly mental.

[Phenomenal-Nutrition]

He does come across a complete cock and unlikeable, 'Chris Eubanks is jealous of me', 'I'm not turning pro unless I get £2m, I know what I'm worth'. Obviously Chris was commenting on Degale having little incentive to work hard if he already has £2m

His job is to be a world class boxer so it doesn't really matter if he does endear himself to me or not. There's a world of work that needs to be done to turn a world class amateur into a world class pro though and I'm not sure Degale has the raw material or the desire to get there. Although we won't find anything out for 3years because he won't get tested in that time under Captain Frank

[adamdaly]

Degale talking about wanting £2m to turn pro put a lot of people off of him. Most people don't make that in a lifetime so it's just a little too arrogant for most people. I can't speak for the whole country but I know plenty of boxing fans and not one of them has a high opinion of Degale. He expects to pick up where Calzaghe and Hatton leave off but unless he changes his tune there's not a snowballs chance in hell of that happening. Good boxer..just a bit of an arse in my honest opinion.

[NRH]

Degale has no personality and is an arrogant sod, but to be fair a lot of it is (once again) linked to his promoter.

I gurantee he'd have had more well wishers had he signed with another.

and Joe calzage was mr Charisma 2009?

its bullshit allthis they leave the lad alone. We could do with a new breed coming through and the geezer did us proud at the Olympics

we shoudl at least give him a chance, and eubank should shut the eff up, no one listens to him anyway he is quite clearly mental.

I'd rather listen to what Eubank has to say than Degale. All he does is bitch and moan about how people are criticizing him. Big deal it happens to every fighter. He should thank his lucky stars he doesn't get the sort of shit the likes of Jack Johnson used to get, or Ali etc.

And winning olympic gold is a fantastic achievement, but we all know there's no higher accolade in boxing than being world champion. Him harping on about his fornicating medal in every interview is starting to get a bit old. Why would anyone be jealous of Degale let alone Eubank? Degale has done fornicate all as a pro so he needs to pipe the fornicate down a bit.

[J]

oh i get it so its ok for Eubank to have a pop at Degale but he isnt allowed to respond.

THATS EXACTLY THE TYPE OF SHIT JACK JOHNSON HAD TO PUT UP WITH.

[NRH]

oh i get it so its ok for Eubank to have a pop at Degale but he isnt allowed to respond.

THATS EXACTLY THE TYPE OF SHIT JACK JOHNSON HAD TO PUT UP WITH.

Jack Johnson had proved himself in the pro game. Degale has done fornicate all so far. Needs to shut it. Why the fornicate would Eubank be jealous of Degale?

Get the fornicate over yourself James.

[NRH]

And i didn't see it as Eubank having a pop anyway more a genuine opinion. Degale's response was just childish, acting like a great like Chris Eubank is jealous of him.

Delusions of grandeur i tell thee.

[NRH]

Arguably DeGale's amateur achivement (winning Olympic gold) pisses over Chris' pro achievements (winning a part of a title and then sitting on it for fight after fight).

You seriously think that winning an olympic gold medal is better than being a 2 weight world champion?

I know what i'd rather be.

[J]

fornicate me this is sad, the bloke aint even had a pro fight and everyone wants to see him brought down a peg or two.

typical brits huh.

[NRH]

I have to say i am absolutely relishing the day Degale gets sparked Fraudley style!

[J]

case closed. guilty as charged .

how sad we want our rising stars to get beat without even throwing a punch yet.

sad sad sad.

no wonder Brit boxing is in trouble with fans like those hey.

[NRH]

case closed. guilty as charged .

how sad we want our rising stars to get beat without even throwing a punch yet.

sad sad sad.

no wonder Brit boxing is in trouble with fans like those hey.

So we should just blindly support anyone who is British? fornicate that. Im a boxing fan and i will like and dislike whoever i want regardless of nationality.

[champ4ever]

i would like to add that every fighter is different, all have different regards in what they want to achieve in boxing, some want to achieve greatness more than money, and some are more concerned with the money than greatness. it really depends, sugar ray leonard, he was the goldenboy of boxing from the start, and he achieved alot, he had to work for it obviously like degale has to work for his money. i think some people believe degale already has the millions in the bank, trust me he has'nt, not just yet, but he has more chance of making millions than an unknown quantity like many of the other gold medal winnners in the past.

we'll have to see how the money changes degale, some can handle fame and money, some can't. lennox handled his money very well, he was a multi millionaire, and he still desperatly wanted to achieve greatness, while someone like tyson, money and fame destroyed him. depends on the character of the fighter. only time will tell.

[J]

case closed. guilty as charged .

how sad we want our rising stars to get beat without even throwing a punch yet.

sad sad sad.

no wonder Brit boxing is in trouble with fans like those hey.

So we should just blindly support anyone who is British? eff that. Im a boxing fan and i will like and dislike whoever i want regardless of nationality.

no id like him to be judged on what he does in the ring.

[champ4ever]

Arguably DeGale's amateur achivement (winning Olympic gold) pisses over Chris' pro achievements (winning a part of a title and then sitting on it for fight after fight).

You seriously think that winning an olympic gold medal is better than being a 2 weight world champion?

I know what i'd rather be.

I would rather win the gold, in purely sporting terms, the WBO title is barely worth the memorandum it is given out on. Eubank devauled it a little also.

Yes he was tough. Yes he used to get hit on the chin, do a little dance and then fight back. Yes he nearly KO'd himself throwing a right at Malinga. But with all that said his title was meaningless, at every point in his career there were better title holders, and he never wanted to face them. What are you propsing next? WBU and IBO titles are better than the gold?

winning gold in the olympics is a massive achievement, but it's ridiculous to compare it to a world class pro fighter who not only fought for a world title, but defended that title nearly 20 times, and as we all know when you become champion for that long, then you got to fight your mandatories, which eubank did, and he fought the best british boxers of his era, which was very talented at the time. degale has won gold, but he can't defend that gold like eubank had to defend his world title. they say it's harder to defend successfully than win the title in the first place, and degale got an easy draw. i normally wouldnt put degale down like that, but it's like you are putting eubank's title reign, but saying the same sort of thing.

eubanks achievement as a pro is better, he's had to defend his title, degale was'nt even in the top ten in the world before the olympics.

[NRH]

case closed. guilty as charged .

how sad we want our rising stars to get beat without even throwing a punch yet.

sad sad sad.

no wonder Brit boxing is in trouble with fans like those hey.

So we should just blindly support anyone who is British? eff that. Im a boxing fan and i will like and dislike whoever i want regardless of nationality.

no id like him to be judged on what he does in the ring.

Trouble is we'll only get to see him in the ring on his debut for what 12 minutes? So i have to listen to this donut harp on about his medal and how he's so hard done by for weeks and months only to see him fight 12 minutes against a guy who i could probably last 4 rounds with?