Last Night's UK action: An honest opinion.

First things first: I've never been the biggest fan of Harrison, however you have to appreciate the fact the guy was a great amateur and why a lot of people were building him up as the replacement of Lennox Lewis following his Gold Medal win in Sydney. I also appreciate they guy is a boxer and this is THE toughest sport out there, any man who walks through those ropes deserves a little respect.

What I am happy about is the fact we probably won't have to see him in the ring again as he is simply fodder for any big punching heavyweight. The only move left for him now is to retire and enjoy it.

The Price v Harrison fight proved nothing for Price, other than things we already know... He is accurate, powerful and patient - I hope to see him in the ring against either (or both) Robert Helenius and Kubrat Pulev. I want to see him step it up and take on the unbeaten Europeans and get started with his route for World championship shot. Tysons Fury? He can wait...

Over on Channel 5 Mick Hennessey put on another card, showcasing his newly signed talent James Degale... It certainly wasn't the first time I saw Hennessey sweat profusely but surely this was down to a somewhat lackluster performance by another Olympic Gold medalist. From the outset, Degale didn't look comfortable, was unable to control the range or the tempo of the fight. I scored the fight 115 - 113 to Degale, but it spoke volumes about his inability to throw shots with conviction and spite. He lacks the jab to keep anyone at bay, slaps his hooks out and doesn't seem to know what range he's comfortable at... It speaks volumes to me when a Gold Medalist with so much hype around him makes a hard nights work like that.

Mick Hennessey no doubt, was probably questioning his decision halfway through the fight. But who could blame him... Degale makes Audley seem as loveable as Bruno in comparison. Degale, McDonald and Hennessey can use excuses like "we only had tapes on the guy last week" as much as they want, but if true, makes them come across as unprepared laughable oafs.

Degale to be a World Champion by next year? Just hype. I just hope Degale isn't as naive to believe that the fight was a good performance against a domestic level opponent. But if he is proud of that win and still believes he is in contention of a World Strap (in a division FULL with the big names of the sport) he must be careful of how he approaches his next fights and his own hype... Otherwise, we could have another Audley Harrison on our hands.

i didnt score the degale fight as i thought it would be a walk over but the general feel of the fight was he had done just enough to get the nod. as to him being a world champ i really cant see it, anyone with abit of power could have got him out there last night. he's lazy and think the early success has stunted his development if anything. too rich too early. added to that that he's in a division with great talent around, its not likely he's going to be able to do a cleverly and pick up a easy belt.

3 points in degales defense

1. he has been out of action a year
2. he seems a somewhat different guy from the degale/groves character we first saw. he is honest, realisitic and respectful to opponents.
3. if audley had a opponent who was on his like that he would have folded in 2-3 rounds any time in his career.

It is most unfair to compare the professional CVs of Harrison and DeGale, even at this relatively inchoate stage of the latter's career. With DeGale, we are looking for signs that he is maturing sufficiently to be among the best in the world; we acknowledge him to be one of the leading fighters at his weight in Europe and wonder whether he can take the final step upwards.

Harrison, by contrast, fairly quickly made us ask the basic question of whether he actually enjoyed the professional game at all. Ultimately, the final judgement must be that he did not and that he was, in so many ways, ill-suited for it.

Two very different beasts, whatever happens in the remainder of DeGale's pro career.

I was at the Degale fight last night and I see no way he can be a world champion any time soon, no chance at all. He gets backed up on the ropes way to easily because he doesn't have the power, conditioning or ring smarts to keep a guy off him. This negates his hand speed somewhat which is his best attribute, if he could have kept the opponent at range last night he would have won very comfortably as he offered not much but a solid chin and a decent engine.

was the the one with the big fight in the crowd, or was that liverpool? probably liverpool.

They were extremely pro Degale from the sounds of it.

Yeah Degale got a really good reception, there was something big happening on the otherside of the crowd, could see everyone stand up and start staring then about 50+ people made there way from the far side round and out the door. Didn't see what was happening really just a load of people leaving.

did you not see the last round of the dickenson/mcphelbin fight? there was a brawl that had everyones attension for the full 12th round (even the commentators). it appeared to go on even after the fight finished. it must have been on the price undercard.

captain carrantuohil wrote:It is most unfair to compare the professional CVs of Harrison and DeGale, even at this relatively inchoate stage of the latter's career. With DeGale, we are looking for signs that he is maturing sufficiently to be among the best in the world; we acknowledge him to be one of the leading fighters at his weight in Europe and wonder whether he can take the final step upwards.

Harrison, by contrast, fairly quickly made us ask the basic question of whether he actually enjoyed the professional game at all. Ultimately, the final judgement must be that he did not and that he was, in so many ways, ill-suited for it.

Two very different beasts, whatever happens in the remainder of DeGale's pro career.

I don't think it's unfair to compare them at all. Although I didn't once compare there CVs...

Both Olympic Gold medalists who have sucked in a lot of hype and to be frank, have made a lot of haters along the way. Both guys were brilliant amateurs but can't seem to adapt to pro.

Ring rust or not, it looked as though Degale struggled with an opponent who he should have walked through. Also, by saying they only had video on the guy last week is absolutely shocking and a very poor excuse... With all of the pictures Degale has of Ali in his camp, you would have reminded himself of that old Ali quote: "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail". I couldn't care if Jim McDonald makes James Degale train like a trooper or not... His boxing looked lazy and half-assed.

I also can't see him maturing what so ever, unless he rids of McDonald who again started to panic in the corner and showed little in the way of telling his charge what options he had.

For young guy, to rely on the ropes for that extent of a fight and give up that much ground to a standard come-forward fighter is pretty poor. He did not look like a guy who can get the job done and if he has more fights like that, he is likely to be left behind in the domestic leagues... JUST like Harrison.

His decline, or lack of progress has got to be linked with the fact that he is an arrogant silly billy who doesn't have the desire to train hard because he feels that he doesn't have to.

The 'I won an olympic gold' attitude and statements are boring, and more importantly costly to his career and potential earings.

Again, school project, I must disagree with you. You did not compare the CVs of Harrison and Degale, but in order to make any sort of comparison between them as professional boxers, that's precisely what you have to do.

Within a handful of fights, DeGale became British champion, outclassing a thoroughly respected British-level operator to do so. He then lost narrowly to a man who is also regarded as a potentially serious player on the world stage. He has secured a European title since and has defended it twice. He has been forced to display grit to dig out some of his wins and has never, at any stage, given the slightest sign that his heart is not in his profession.

Audley, even before he started fighting for titles, was matched with kid gloves and showed obvious early signs of distaste for the nasty business of getting into the trenches that professional boxing demands. Audley did briefly win a European strap but by that point, had lost to a series of rivals who were strictly of a domestic level. The Haye and Price fights were merely the exclamation marks that underlined his unfitness for the pro game.

Degale may not have blazed a trail through the pro ranks, but he has already proved himself to be leagues above Harrison in relative terms, whatever may happen to him in the future. He may never be a professional world champion; that fate is shared by almost all of Britain's Olympic champions. Dick McTaggart never even turned pro. Terry Spinks fell short, as did Chris Finnegan. They are two different worlds, amateur and professional boxing, but DeGale has adapted to the second infinitely better than Harrison ever could.

I have already said that DeGale's apparent inability to eradicate some of his flaws is a worry. It may be that this will find him out at world level. However, he is already well clear of the "domestic leagues", as you put it. He may not be everyone's cup of tea, and this may be understandable, but DeGale deserves a little more slack than to be lumped, even potentially, in with a serial professional underachiever of Harrison's ilk.

while its not often i stick up for harrison, he unlike degale operates in a division where being lazy you will be found out more often than not. if say for instance a heavyweight adopted degales tactics against the french lad they will nearly always get knocked out (unless you possess a chin like ali). degale could get away with it because the french lad didnt have enough power something even tomato cans can possess at heavyweight

Only watched the DeGale fight so can't comment on Price / Harrison.

My thought is that he gets hit far too easily to ever make it to world level.

Really wanted to like and support DeGale as he was on C5 and I want to support the guys on terrestrial more than on Sky / Warren TV. Just don't see anything special there, a few nice combinations at speed but no real power and as I said, far too easy to hit.

Any idea when Kid Galahad is fighting again? He's my favourite out of the C5 lot.

huw wrote:Only watched the DeGale fight so can't comment on Price / Harrison.

My thought is that he gets hit far too easily to ever make it to world level.

Really wanted to like and support DeGale as he was on C5 and I want to support the guys on terrestrial more than on Sky / Warren TV. Just don't see anything special there, a few nice combinations at speed but no real power and as I said, far too easy to hit.

Any idea when Kid Galahad is fighting again? He's my favourite out of the C5 lot.

Galahad was supposed to be on the Degale card but pulled out ill Saturday morning.

Same as above only saw the Degale fight. Am prepare to give him the benefit of the doubt, Its true he has been really inactive and although he made hard work of it this fight must only be good in terms of experience to get through. He did get pushed on the ropes and backfoot far too often, I thought he fought well in those positions but it was worrying that he didn't look physically strong enough to keep his opponent at bay. Imagine if that was Ward or Glen Johnson he was facing!!

I think a world title shot next year is unrealistic, but he's making the right noises stating he wants to fight 4 or 5 times next year, hopefully building and gaining more experience along the way!! And agreed he needs a new trainer, Mcdonald isn't improving him. I'm not writing him off yet, bottom line it was an entertaining fight and a tough fight like that may give him the wake up call he needs.

School Project wrote:
The Price v Harrison fight proved nothing for Price, other than things we already know... He is accurate, powerful and patient - I hope to see him in the ring against either (or both) Robert Helenius and Kubrat Pulev. I want to see him step it up and take on the unbeaten Europeans and get started with his route for World championship shot. Tysons Fury? He can wait...

The thing is with Price is there does not seem to be any boxers out there who can give him a contest and help him get rounds in... this is actually something you call a good problem... He will need more experience before taking on a K, but where will he get it as this rate, I think there are one or two US boxers he could challenge and Tyson Fury might give him a go, although I get the impression he is waiting to get knocked out.

Over on Channel 5 Mick Hennessey put on another card, showcasing his newly signed talent James Degale... It certainly wasn't the first time I saw Hennessey sweat profusely but surely this was down to a somewhat lackluster performance by another Olympic Gold medalist. From the outset, Degale didn't look comfortable, was unable to control the range or the tempo of the fight. I scored the fight 115 - 113 to Degale, but it spoke volumes about his inability to throw shots with conviction and spite. He lacks the jab to keep anyone at bay, slaps his hooks out and doesn't seem to know what range he's comfortable at... It speaks volumes to me when a Gold Medalist with so much hype around him makes a hard nights work like that.

Hmmm Cant say I agree with all of that. From the outset he did not look comfortable? I have to disagree, I think he breezed past rounds 1,2,3.. and at that time it looked like by the 5th or 6th he would probably stop the guy..

I think in the 4th you started to see him become more negative and backing off, although I still gave him round 4... after that he was giving rounds away by being inactive against the ropes... he was never hurt or in any trouble but just seemed like he was tired.

When he did box particularly at length he looked pretty classy.

I do see why people question his power but i think its a tad under rated. It more of a case that he thinks his power is better than it is and neglects his defense and movement.. when he moves and defends he has enough power to grind guys down. He had the guy hurt a couple times.

Mick Hennessey no doubt, was probably questioning his decision halfway through the fight. But who could blame him... Degale makes Audley seem as loveable as Bruno in comparison. Degale, McDonald and Hennessey can use excuses like "we only had tapes on the guy last week" as much as they want, but if true, makes them come across as unprepared laughable oafs.

I think Mick H has a point to be honest, the guy was solid European level, no great skill but Very tough durable and stuck to a game plan, While Degale will need to deal with those guys with more ease if he is to fight at world level, he has had enough time off to claim a fair bit of ring rust to be honest, while it was his opponents 4th fight this year..

and if they cherry picked an easy fight you would be criticizing that... As far as I can tell, before the fight Degale stated he was a tough fighter and people mocked him... during the fight Mick Hennessy said it and said they new it before the fight... And after Degale said he was tough...

And sure enough while the guy was no slickster he did not stop coming forward and throwing punches from the first round to the last.

Degale to be a World Champion by next year? Just hype. I just hope Degale isn't as naive to believe that the fight was a good performance against a domestic level opponent. But if he is proud of that win and still believes he is in contention of a World Strap (in a division FULL with the big names of the sport) he must be careful of how he approaches his next fights and his own hype... Otherwise, we could have another Audley Harrison on our hands.

I do not think its a case of Is he good enough to be world champ, as on that last performance no.

The question is will he improve enough to be a World champ.. and after 14 pro fights and only 2 fights in the last 17 months, I'm gona reserve judgment on that for now. Improvement is certainly needed, I personally think we will see it. The main doubt I have is his trainer... Im not convinced he is the man to bring our Degales full potential or if he holds enough authority over him, which I think every learning Pro needs.