James DeGale reclaimed his IBF super middleweight title in Showtime’s co-main event rematch, but it wasn’t pretty in getting there. The fight was bloody and mauling. Very little positive boxing happened and I do not recommend anyone to watch this one going forward if you didn’t see it live.
James DeGale (24-2-1, 14 KOs) came out motivated and energetic in the first round. Titleholder Caleb Truax (29-4-2, 18 KOs) didn’t do much in response and accordingly lost the round. This changed in the second as Truax got inside and moved his hands well. The real story of the first two rounds were some epic headbutts landed by DeGale, however. After boxing well for ninety seconds, DeGale was caught with a big right hand in the third. From there it was Truax round. Worse yet for the British title challenger was a bad cut opened over his right eye that was ruled from a cut by referee Robert Byrd. It should have been ruled from a clash of heads, but it wasn’t.
The fourth and fifth rounds were strange ones. James DeGale largely ran away wearing a crimson mask, but Caleb Truax wasn’t exactly able to catch him to get much done. They were hard ones to score. DeGale did take the sixth by virtue of moving his hands, but that doesn’t mean it was pretty. To be blunt this was a pretty disgraceful world title fight from a skills perspective at its halfway mark. I had Truax up 4-2, but several of these rounds could have been scored either way.
The crime against the sport continued in the seventh. Caleb Truax forced his way in to clinch while James DeGale tried to move away without punching. The Brit would land a sharp shot or two each round while the Minnesota native slowly moved his hands in the clinch. These rounds could be scored either way, but we certainly weren’t winning as fans. Excitement didn’t pick up in the eighth, but it was the second round in a row I scored for DeGale to even my card up.
What counts for more? Two sharp shots by James DeGale or twenty pitter patter shots in the clinch from Caleb Truax. Just pick one. I can’t bring myself to keep writing about this garbage. The ninth and the tenth were exactly the same except that DeGale lost a point for blatantly using his shoulder in the tenth for the second time in the fight. As were the eleventh and twelfth, though I did think DeGale got enough done to win both of those and edge this awful fight.
I scored this fight a 114-113 for James DeGale, but hell if I knew what to expect from the official judges. So many rounds were next to impossible to score. Somehow Steve Farhood agreed with me which seems ridiculous given that we got there a totally different way. Official scores came back 117-110 and 114-113 twice for James DeGale. Let’s never talk about this one again.
Post-fight DeGale talked about being back. I have no words.
