First off, he showed tons of heart tonight and a very good chin imo because he was shipping decent shots all night. He also showed very good survival instinct when hurt and really has a fighters heart so credit there.
He was a sucker for the right hand all night. He was getting caught round the side, through the guard and even up the middle sometimes. This is a serious weakness in his defence at the moment and needs to be rectified.
His defence looks porous in general. Shots were getting through all night. What he is trying to do is extremely advanced by fighting competently in both stances and using the "phily shell" to block and parry shots but clearly he hasn't perfected this and as he steps up in class he will be taking more and more shots from heavier hitters. HIs defence needs serious work.
He lunges with his right hand and looks amateurish when he throws it at times. That is a counter waiting to happen at a higher level.
His accuracy wasn't good, especially when he was attacking. He was much more comfortable in the fight when the pole was coming to him. The majority of the punches he recieved were actually counter punches from the pole or came from exchanges on the inside. Degale is more than happy to exchange on the inside but ships too many punches in doing so.
We have to question whether McDonnell is the right trainer for him? No doubt Degale comes in fit to fight but technically, the mayweathers would be perfect trainers for him. They wouldn't come cheap though.
As we know, his inside game is probably his strongest asset. He was turning on the "blender" at times and showing blistering hand speed and punching to body and head on the inside. He's also really good at leaning on the opponent on the inside.
He also got another cut. Is he prone to getting cuts in fights? Nothing he can do about that if he is, but at least he now has more experience in dealing with cuts.
I also don't think he is as confident in his ability as he lets on.
Ultimately he has a lot to work on. I can see him getting there though and I'm not ready to write him off just yet but he really needs to tighten up that defence and work on actually having a proper jab to set up his attacks.
An analysis of James Degale
Re: An analysis of James Degale
The ease at which the Pole hit him with right hands was alarming, I must admit.
As you say, they were coming from all angles, straight shots, looping ones and a couple of really wild hooks that had a postage stamp on them.
Must admit though I was surprised how close the judges had it, from my seat I had James winning 8-4. It might be a case of them not really doing their research properly and the opponent being better than they ideally would have liked.
He had all the hallmarks on paper of an ideal Allegedly opponent, low KO % - taking 11 to get rid of Asikainen.... the only thing missing was that he'd been stopped before.
There were a few other warning signs, he seemed to take plenty of time off in rounds that might have swayed the judges against him, his punch technique at times is utterly gash, as is his footwork. There's plenty of talent and ability there but the hard work needs to start now. Well, should have started ages ago but anyway.....
As you say, they were coming from all angles, straight shots, looping ones and a couple of really wild hooks that had a postage stamp on them.
Must admit though I was surprised how close the judges had it, from my seat I had James winning 8-4. It might be a case of them not really doing their research properly and the opponent being better than they ideally would have liked.
He had all the hallmarks on paper of an ideal Allegedly opponent, low KO % - taking 11 to get rid of Asikainen.... the only thing missing was that he'd been stopped before.
There were a few other warning signs, he seemed to take plenty of time off in rounds that might have swayed the judges against him, his punch technique at times is utterly gash, as is his footwork. There's plenty of talent and ability there but the hard work needs to start now. Well, should have started ages ago but anyway.....