James DeGale regained the IBF super middleweight title he lost in December to Caleb Truax with a bloody, 12-round unanimous decision on Saturday at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
The fight was an immediate rematch of what many thought was the upset of the year in boxing in 2017. The 32-year-old DeGale (24-2-1 14 KOs) held the IBF world title at 168lbs for 31 months before losing it to the 34-year-old Truax (29-4-2, 18 KOs) on DeGale’s home turf in London.
“I’m back,” DeGale said. “Two-and-a-half years I had it and I lost it to Caleb. He embarrassed me, but we’re back.”
DeGale suffered a massive cut just over his right eye on an accidental head butt that led to extensive bleeding in the third round.
“I couldn’t see from my right eye,” DeGale said. “I couldn’t see. But I’m just glad I got through it. I showed some heart. In my last fight, I was like a weak little kid.”
DeGale connected on 37% of his power shots compared to 28% for Truax. He now returns to London a world champion with some massive potential fights in the future.
“I want to be busy,” DeGale said. “I have a couple years left in this sport.”
Truax was just the fourth boxing world champion ever from Minnesota.
“I thought I did enough to win the fight, but I also thought I was pretty flat and didn’t get my shots off like I wanted,” Truax said.
The rematch was the co-main event to the junior middleweight title unification fight between Jarrett Hurd and Erislandy Lara, where Hurd used a 12th-round knockdown to secure a split-decision victory to unify the IBF and WBA junior middleweight world titles.
Two judges scored the fight 114-113 for Hurd, while the third judge had Lara winning the fight by the same 114-113 scorecard.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Referee Kenny Bayless sends Jarrett Hurd (right) to his corner after he knocked down Erislandy Lara during their WBA/IBF junior middleweight unification title fight. Photograph: Sam Wasson/Getty Images
Hurd connected on a short left hook with less than a minute remaining, knocking down for former WBA champion Lara (25-3-2, 14 KOs), the longest reigning champion at 154lbs entering the fight. Lara was attempting to defend his title for the sixth consecutive time.
“I didn’t feel like I needed the knockdown for the win,” said the 27-year-old Hurd, from Accokeek, Maryland. “I felt like I was in control the whole fight, applying the pressure.”
The win for Hurd (21-0, 15 KOs) sets up a potential mega-matchup against Jermell Charlo, who has held the WBC light middleweight world title since 2016.
Hurd is the seventh unified world title holder in 154lb history, joining Hall of Famers Terry Norris, Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya and Winky Wright, as well as Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez.
The 34-year-old Lara from Houston thought he won the fight, despite the knockdown in the final round.
“I was up by a large margin going into the last round,” said Lara, who suffered swelling and a cut around his right eye. “The problem was the cut on the eye. I couldn’t see in the last round.”
James DeGale faces a career-defining fight in his rematch against Caleb Truax in Las Vegas.
Truax handed 'Chunky' a shock defeat in December last year but the Londoner has earned his shot at revenge.
The former Olympic gold medal winner has suggested he will retire if beaten by the American for a second time and he has promised fans a far better showing than the first time round, when he rushed back too quickly from shoulder surgery.
Sportsmail are on hand to provide live round-by-round updates of the Las Vegas showdown.
James DeGale clawed back his world title through the red mists of a savagely cut eye on a rock and roll night in Sin City. Redemption came with the IBF super-middleweight belt he had frittered away on a chill December night in London four months ago.
So gruelling was this rematch that he and Truax were ferried straight to hospital at the end. Mutual respect was another product of a hot night in the Hard Rock Hotel.
DeGale had not only survived the deadly combination of an uppercut and head butt which lacerated him above the right eye, but also the deduction of a point for repeatedly using his recently broken right shoulder to help counter the expected charges by Truax.
James DeGale claimed a hard-fought victory and was taken to hospital with his opponent Caleb Truax after the fight
DeGale (right) earned a unanimous decision victory over Truax in the rematch in Las Vegas on the judges scorecards
'Chunky' overcame the durable American over a tough 12 rounds and was forced to dig deep for victory in Las Vegas
DeGale, blood pouring from a cut above his right eye, makes contact with Truax's chest as his opponent tries to counter
DeGale glances up at the clock to see how much time is remaining in the round as he clinches Truax during the contest
The rematch of DeGale's life was a battle between the matador and the bull. The matador won, even though he was the one who shed all the blood.
'I'm back,' screamed DeGale as the unanimous verdict came down. So no premature retirement, as he had threatened should he lose to Truax a second time.
It was a close call on the cards of the two judges who gave it to him by a point, 114-113. As did I. The third man gave it to Chunky 117-110.
Concerns as to whether a full panel of American officials would favour aggression over skill were allayed by their unprejudiced decision.
Truax took much credit, too, by coming through the pain which had him clutching his mouth in agony when DeGale the first two of his many left hooks to the teeth. More was to come from that weapon but he never again flinched as he put DeGale to the test.
But even though the blood streamed down DeGale's face from the third round on, he could not land decisively on a target back to being as elusive as he ever was.
DeGale was warned for using his shoulder and he was deducted a point by the referee for the infringement
DeGale said: 'I couldn't see through my right eye but I had to keep finding a way to win.'
So he did, if was to return to the top table of his division. Huge fights now beckon later this year, probably including at last another rematch, with George Groves.
And this wound hurt nothing like match as his damaged pride in their first fight. Many critics thought he was washed up after that defeat and even he wavered in his conviction.
But he found the will to resurrect his career, by reminding us that the skills which made him the first British boxer to win Olympic gold and go on to become a world champion are still in fine working order.
DeGale was cut and struggled to see out of his right eye as the champion piled on plenty of pressure
Jeff Powell's scorecard Truax Round DeGale 9 1 10 9 2 10 10 3 9 9 4 10 10 5 9 9 6 10 9 7 10 10 8 9 10 9 9 10 10 8 9 11 10 9 12 10 113 TOTAL 114
Apparently you can take a nap in one of Elvis Presley's old beds at this Hard Rock. DeGale was more interested in sending Truax to sleep on the ring canvas in an arena trendily called The Joint.
This was not the Vegas debut 'Chunky' had envisaged for himself. Off-Strip. Top of the undercard, not the bill.
Watched by about 3,500 in a hall built for 5,000. Most of whom had turned out to watch the ensuing world super-welterweight championship unification fight between Erislandy Lara and Jarrett Hurd.
But regardless of the surroundings this was one of the most important fights in DeGale's career. Not least because he had suggested it might be his last if it went as badly as the first against Truax.
Surely not. Not with DeGale the road warrior back in America, where he won his title against the odds and defender it so valiantly, before his disastrous home-coming in December.
For certain, he had been in livelier form through fight week, looked lean and hungry at the weigh-in and came bouncing into The Joint looking eager to retrieve not only his IBF belt but his reputation. Shot, as some thought after the London debacle. We were about to find out.
A smattering of English cheers for 'Chunky' were drowned out by the American cat-calls as the first bell rang. DeGale answered them with a crisp succession of jabs with that southpaw right which he admitted had not fully recovered from shoulder surgery in the first fight. Then he landed a vicious left hook which Truax staggering back clutching his mouth in agony.
Truax had treatment for his mouth in the first interval but managed to come for the second on the offensive, only for DeGale to inflict replica agony to the teeth. More lefts followed as DeGale refused to let the thick-set Truax bully him as he had done four months earlier.
The former Olympic champion boxed clever and did well considering the damage to his right eye
Truax spoke about his frustration in an inability to let his shots go as well in the rematch compared with the first fight
DeGale slipped through the gears of his skills – until he walked onto a big right hook. He took it well but Truax was suitably encouraged and cut DeGale above the right eye with powerful right uppercut.
Slow motion TV replays suggested the wound had been caused by a head butt which followed the uppercut. Either way it was a nasty gash and as the blood continued to flow Truax became the aggressor. But the cleaner punches were coming from 'Chunky', notably a couple of crunching lefts to win the round.
Truax kept coming forward and DeGale, troubled by the cut played cat and mouse for a while. A doctor was called to examine the cut half a minute before the end of the round but he was allowed to continue a round he narrowly lost to superior work-rate.
Truax was game and after the fight DeGale said the American would give some top level opponents trouble
DeGale showcased his superior boxing skills against the tenacity and marching forward of Truax throughout
DeGale was back to his boxing in the sixth and the openings he made for his left edged the round. He was having more trouble holding Truax off now, but he responded by raising his work rate and landing a succession of clean left hooks.
DeGale was clearly ahead on my card but with all the judges being American there had to be a concern whether they would favour clumsy aggression. More clever movement and counter-punching were probably not enough to give him the eighth.
Truax was doing his best to turn into a wrestling match, preventing DeGale from putting on the dominant performance he had demanded off himself. But while he was by far the superior boxer he let the ninth slip to Truax by lowering his work-rate.
For all DeGale's brilliant defensive movement, Truax was still able to get through often enough to bring himself further back into the fight. When the referee deducted a point from DeGale for persistent use of the shoulder as they came into the clinches it was getting too close for comfort.
DeGale picked his man off with some cutting edge lefts in the 11th. With the lumbering Truax mostly missing he took a round on my card which he needed. DeGale's face was a mess but his heart was still strong. His late flurry of lefts saw him home in a barn-burner.
James DeGale regained his IBF super middleweight crown in a bloody rematch with Caleb Truax, his nemesis in December, in a scrappy, headbutt-strewn contest in which the Londoner was also deducted a point for shoving his opponent off him in the tenth round. But Sin City, and the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino will now be a place of celebration for DeGale who stressed that there are no thoughts of retirement.
After his loss five months ago - the second of his career - the former Olympic champion admitted he was "so embarrassed" by the performance that he could not show his face in public.
This was no great boxing match, but DeGale battled through to scrape a narrow points victory - though it was clearly deserved. The entire 12 rounds were messy, with a lot of holding and clinching, but for DeGale it was job done.
For two of the twelve rounds, the old clinical DeGale was back, landing uppercuts and power punches, moving smartly and outboxing his foe. The final score cards read 117-110, and 114-113 twice. Your ringside correspondent scored the bout identically to two of the judges, with DeGale needing to win the final round for a narrow victory. There will still be concern in his camp that his left hand was employed so much more than his right hand, that shoulder being the one he had surgery on last year.
