BoxRec

Beaten by the narrowest of margins by his former amateur rival, then denied any prospect of a rematch by the British Boxing Board of Control, this has not been the best of weeks for James DeGale.

DeGale slunk out of the O2 Arena in London last Saturday night with fans and even some fellow fighters pouring scorn on his failure to back up his pre-fight boasts against George Groves.

The reaction was nothing new for DeGale, who has been battling the boos since winning his Olympic gold medal against a back-drop of cat-calls from dissatisfied Chinese fight fans in 2008.

DeGale's apparent crime on that particular occasion was to deign to jostle with the crowd favourite, Cuban Emilio Correa, who even bit DeGale during the fight but was cheered all the way to narrow defeat.