Five years on from Beijing, the 2008 Olympic boxing champion James DeGale is not the happiest of boxing bunnies. Overshadowed by the skilfully-hyped pro debuts of sport's new golden boys from 2012, Anthony Joshua and Luke Campbell, he has had to take a back seat watch while George Groves, the detested rival he calls "that ugly ginger kid" has leapfrogged to an all-British world super-middleweight title shot against the World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion Carl Froch in Manchester on Saturday (November 23) week.

Equally annoying was seeing his mouthy stablemate Tyson Fury hog the headlines for a fight against David Haye that never happened. Is he bitter? You bet.

But he vows he'll punch his way back into the big picture himself and insists he'll still become the first British Olympic champion to win a world professional title. Only two, Chris Finnegan and Audley Harrison, have even fought for one.

That tortuous journey resumes this Saturday (November 16) night when the former British and European champion defends a bauble labelled the WBC silver super-middleweight belt against little-known American Dyah Davis - son of another Olympic champion, Howard Davis, lightweight gold winner in 1976 - at The Glow, a small hall venue in Kent's Bluewater shopping mall.

James DeGale vows he'll punch his way back into the big picture


A far cry from Manchester's massive Phones 4u Arena where Groves faces Froch in a rare all-British title fight before a sell-out crowd of 20,000.

The venue has unpleasant recall for DeGale. It was there - when known as the MEN Arena - that fellow west Londoner Groves controversially pipped him by a point and relieved him of his unbeaten pro record and British title he had acquired in only his ninth fight, a result that still rankles.

Many so-called feuds in boxing are cynically manufactured to boost ticket sales. But not this one. Their animosity stretches back to their amateur days when DeGale, who had lost to Groves in the Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) Championships, was selected over him for the Olympics.

Their verbal exchanges have been as fractious as their actual ring combat and Harlesden's DeGale says of his arch enemy from nearby Hammersmith: "He's a flash, smug, infantile prat and I hope Froch flattens him - which he will."

It clearly irritates DeGale intensely that "Saint George" Groves has beaten him to the punch - again.

Small wonder that the 27-year-old self-managed "Chunky" has tersely instructed his promoter Mick Hennessy: "No more treading water. Let's get the fingers out and get me that world title shot. I really thought I should be fighting for one by now. It should be me in there against Froch, not Groves."

His has been on something of a helter-skelter ride since Beijing. "The Olympic win feels like only five minutes ago and yet it was five years," says DeGale, who signed a seven-figure deal with promoter Frank Warren after the Games all but split with him last year. "You get back from an Olympics and you're hot property. I signed for the biggest promoter in Europe but after my first professional fight, when I got booed, I thought to myself: 'Right, this ain't all glitz and glamour. That all fades, this is some serious stuff'."

James DeGale has been on a helter-skelter ride since the Beijing 2008 Olympics


Sixteen fights later, his only two bouts this year have been at Bluewater and an outpost in Quebec.

"It's frustrating, but that is part of what drives me on. I know I should be in the big fights, in the big arenas," DeGale told insidethegames.

"I've served my apprenticeship as a professional. I've proved I'm a 12-round championship fighter now. But there's a lot of politics in boxing. The shit that goes on is crazy, especially the power some people have in the game.

"It's not always who you beat but who you know.

"Pro boxing's not just a sport, it's the hardest business in the world. Compared to it amateur boxing's a bit of a game. Two points, move, gone.

"Professional boxing ain't like that. Man, it's mentally as well as physically tougher, working inside, smaller gloves."

DeGale switched promoters following the Groves defeat, moving from Warren to Hennessy.

"I'm OK with Mick but we've got to get the foot down. Glow is a very nice arena and the punters work up a great atmosphere.

"Everything else in my world is cool. I'm finally over the knee injury that's been bugging me since I banged it badly against a table. My home life is great. But I love boxing and I've got to step up.

"I get a lot of stick. I read and hear people saying I'm flash and cocky and it does hurt a bit. Maybe it's just me being me. But the people who know me realise I'm a genuine, humble, down-to-earth boy."

James DeGale has his sights set on challenging Sakio Bika for the world title


The hope is a DeGale force win over Davis can lead to a challenge for Sakio Bika's WBC world title. The Australian/Cameroonian stopped Davis in ten rounds last year.

"If I can do a quicker job on Davis it will be a real statement. I'm ranked fifth by the WBC at the moment and a big win here should put me in line to challenge Bika."

A fraction of the 20,000 who will watch Froch v Groves will be at a the Glow, a relative boxing backwater which accommodates only 3,000.

But DeGale is quick to point out one significant advantage: terrestrial television. "I'll be live on Channel 5 and that means an audience of a million or more, not just few thousand."

Curiously, DeGale has never really hit boxing's popularity charts despite doing the business in Beijing. "People say I'm greedy, that I'm always thinking about money, that I've messed up my career. But they don't understand. I love boxing, but it's hard, it's a short career and I want to get paid as much as I can and get out with my faculties intact.

"I tell young fighters who train with me: 'Get in there, make some money and run.' Which almost never happens. Not even if you turn up for your first day of work with a medal round your neck.

"But another Olympics comes around, new medallists arrive and they start taking the limelight.

Anthony Joshua has made an impressive start to his professional career under
Eddie Hearn's Matchroom banner


Joshua, the super-heavyweight champion who, together with lightweight Campbell, has made such an impressive pro start under Eddie Hearn's Matchroom banner. Big Josh has his third bout in London this Thursday (November 14) and already looks the business.

The Olympic title can mean a goldmine as well as a gold medal - for some. But converting that precious piece of into a world title has proved embarrassingly elusive for the Brits.

These are the careers stats to date of the seven who have stood atop the Olympic rostrum.

• Terry Spinks (flyweight, 1956): British featherweight champion; 41 wins, seven defeats, one draw

• Dick McTaggart (lightweight, 1956): Stayed amateur, won bronze in 1960

• Chris Finnegan (middleweight, 1968): British, European and Commonwealth light-heavyweight champion, world title challenger (lost to Bob Foster); 29 wins, seven defeats, one draw

• Audley Harrison (super-heavyweight, 2000): European heavyweight champion, world title challenger (lost to David Haye), 31 wins, seven defeats

• James DeGale (middleweight, 2008): British and European middleweight champion; 16 wins, one defeat

• Luke Campbell (bantamweight, 2012): Three wins, no defeats

• Anthony Joshua (super-heavyweight, 2012): Two wins, no defeats

DeGale, Campbell and Joshua all remain hopeful that they will break the mould.

But are there any among Rob McCracken's prospective runners for Rio who might succeed them in 2016?

Anthony Fowler could present a significant medal hope for Britain at Rio 2016


Although Euro flyweight champ Andrew Selby got a bronze in the recent World Championships, the likeliest lad might be Anthony Fowler, 22-year-old middleweight who is the cousin of the former England and Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler.

Known at GB Boxing's Sheffield headquarters as "The Mersey Machine" because of his fierce training regime also had to settle for bronze in Kazakhstan but only after being forced to withdraw from the semis with a broken hand.

McCracken - who incidentally will be in Froch's corner against Groves but wasn't allowed to similarly minister to the Brits in Kazakhstan because of AIBA's ludicrously archaic ban on pro coaches - believes he may well have gone on to claim the gold.

This would have made him only Britain's second world amateur champion after Frankie Gavin.

So can he now emulate DeGale and Finnegan and win an Olympic middleweight title?

If he does, at least he can absorb these words which comfort the currently frustrated DeGale. "That gold medal is always there. Whatever happens I'm always 'James DeGale, Olympic champion'."

Alan Hubbard is a sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.