James DeGale has regained his IBF super middleweight title with a unanimous-decision win over Caleb Truax at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
The 32-year-old southpaw avenged last year’s surprise defeat to the American journeyman in London, overcoming a bad cut on Saturday night to win by scores of 117-110, 114-113 and 114-113.
“I’m just happy I’m a two-time world champion, it feels great,” DeGale said. “I’m back. Team Chunky, we’re back.”
DeGale (24-2-1, 14 KOs) suffered a gruesome cut in the third round but persevered and won the final two rounds on all three scorecards to win back the belt.
This is a developing story. Check back later for a full report.
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.
By Francisco Salazar
Caleb Truax and the word ‘complacent’ do not go together. If they did, he would have been complacent to just be a contender, make decent money in boxing and move on from the sport when he finally hangs up the gloves for good.
Instead, Truax put all his energy and determination into winning a world title belt, probably the furthest thing many boxing fans thought would have happened when he squared off against James DeGale almost four months ago.
Truax is now in the driver’s seat. Even though he will be defending his IBF super middleweight title against DeGale, he is a betting underdog.
That is fine with Truax, who has embodied that his whole career.
Truax will defend his IBF title tonight against DeGale at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 12 round bout will precede the world junior middleweight unification bout between WBA titleholder Erislandy Lara and IBF titleholder Jarrett Hurd and is a part of a three-bout Showtime telecast (10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT).
On Dec. 9, Truax traveled to suburban London and won the IBF title from DeGale with a majority decision victory. The 34-year-old Truax, who resides in the Minneapolis suburb of Osseo, has won his last three bouts since losing to the likes of Daniel Jacobs and Anthony Dirrell.
Truax (29-3-2, 18 KOs) knows he may or may not have seen the best DeGale in December, considering the British fighter claiming he suffered a shoulder injury.
“I’m prepared for a better James DeGale,” said Truax earlier this week. “I took his belt and I know he’s going to come back hungry. I expect him to give it his all to get it back. He’ll be in top form.”
“As far as I know, I’m still an underdog for this fight. A lot of people think I was a fluke the first time around, so it’s up to me to prove them wrong. I’m ready to silence the critics and silence DeGale.”
Truax has had that mentality growing up. He used that focus and grind to earn a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota and to pay off his student loans. Truax has been a ‘fighter’ so to speak, in and out of the ring.
It was the balance of being an underdog and having a confident ‘can-do’ mentality that allowed Truax to believe he would defeat DeGale in their first fight.
"I felt like I was going to win the whole time, but a lot of people said it was one of the biggest upsets in British boxing history. It still hasn't really sunk in. Nothing has really changed. I'm a busier man but I still keep it really low key.”
Truax believes he can duplicate that performance with another solid performance tonight. Feeding off the skepticism and critics who believe DeGale will win tonight, Truax is more than motivated to make a statement.
"I've been through a lot in this sport. I've fought top guys in big fights but it finally came together last December. It meant a lot to me and now I'm prepared to put on an even better performance. My trainer put together a great plan to help me improve and prepare for what DeGale is going to improve on. I'll be ready for him to be 100 percent.
"I just want to get to Saturday night and put on another great performance to retain my belt. I'm going to give it my all to bring that belt back home to Minnesota."
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
Despite a career that has been filled with success, few fighters have consistently failed to appeal to fans like James DeGale. An Olympic gold medal, a world title and a slew of good opponents has never been enough for the Londoner to achieve notable support, and with his top level career hanging in the balance against Caleb Truax tonight, this may be his last chance to receive the adulation he has always craved.
Following his gold medal success at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, DeGale was booed on his professional debut in early 2009, and was very much the villain against George Groves in their 2011 battle. Prior to DeGale’s shock defeat by Truax four months ago, that was the only loss of his career, and he rallied back from the Groves setback to win the IBF super middleweight title against Andre Dirrell in 2015.
When DeGale outpointed Lucian Bute later that year, he was on the cusp of becoming a genuine fan-favourite, but a laboured win over Rogelio Medina and a disjointed draw with Badou Jack killed his momentum, before his loss to Truax last December. DeGale has suffered a slew of injuries throughout his career, and claimed he had come back too early from shoulder surgery when he fought Truax.
Britain's current boxing world champions
7 show all Britain's current boxing world champions
1/7 Anthony Joshua WBA and IBF heavyweight Getty
2/7 George Groves WBA super middleweight Getty
3/7 Billy-Joe Saunders WBO middleweight Getty
4/7 Lee Selby IBF featherweight Getty
5/7 Jamie McDonnell WBA bantamweight (regular) Getty
6/7 Ryan Burnett WBA bantamweight (super) Getty
7/7 Khalid Yafai WBA super flyweight Getty
Whether that was true or not, DeGale was utterly outclassed by Truax in the fight, the latter coming to London as a vast underdog. It wasn’t simply a case that the American wanted to win more, as DeGale is one of the proudest fighters in boxing. Instead, DeGale was found tactically inept, outgunned, and ultimately outfought. The points defeat was galling, but the humiliation of being embarrassed on home turf has stung DeGale over the past few months.
The former champion has successfully cashed in an immediate rematch, but this time he must travel to Las Vegas to avenge his defeat. The 32-year-old has performed well in America before, but this time he needs to be a little more Simon and Garfunkel, and a little less Razorlight.
If you’re a regular player of James DeGale bingo, all of the numbers have been ticked off in the build-up over the past few weeks. DeGale has learnt from his lessons, he’s injury free and fitter than ever. The trouble is, we’ve heard it all before, and while they may be accurate, the fact remains that he hasn’t looked impressive in the ring for over two years, and has begun to show vulnerabilities that could be disastrous for a reflex-led fighter.
Despite those apparent flaws, a focused DeGale should still have more than enough to deal with Truax this time around. Fundamentally, he’s a better fighter, with better movement, footwork and range of punches. Truax will have gained immense amounts of confidence from beating the British star, but was that the highlight of his career? Does he have the ability to do it all over again, against an opponent who at least theoretically will have learnt and improved from the first bout?
Truax remains the betting underdog despite his win last time out (Getty)
DeGale is still a massive betting favourite at 1/3, with Truax a significant 3/1 underdog, and if the first fight was an anomaly, then those are sensible odds. If DeGale’s prime has dimmed as much as his reputation however, then the value of Truax rises substantially. This is the true beauty of boxing, a fight which makes some sense from a business standpoint, but one which is incredibly difficult to predict. The short period of time between the bouts also adds intrigue. Has DeGale’s shoulder fully recovered, what other injuries are lingering, and if we can steal a thought from a film, does he still have the eye of the tiger?
Win tonight and DeGale remains on the shadows of the spotlight, looking ahead to potential bouts with the likes of George Groves, Callum Smith and Chris Eubank Jr. Lose, and the boos and disdain will quickly become nothing but silence.
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