The first fight for James DeGale since vacating his IBF super middleweight title won’t be the big fight he’s promised, but now a stay-busy fight for something at the end of the year.
DeGale posted on Twitter that he will be fighting on the undercard on the September 30 PBC on FS1 card from Los Angeles headlined by Victor Ortiz vs. John Molina Jr. DeGale did not announce any opponent and only mentioned that it would be an eight-round fight. Boxrec later showed that he is facing former lightweight title challenger Fidel Monterrosa Munoz.
What’s interesting is not the announcement of the fight, but what he said in addition to that. DeGale said that he has something “nice and juicy” for December, which is hinting at a major fight, likely against one of the other champions at 168 pounds.
The former world champion vacated his title this summer in search of big fights in what he considers to be the final chapters of his career. DeGale surrendered the title as he would have had to fight then-interim champion Jose Uzcategui, who has since then been elevated to full world champion. In a later tweet, he confirmed that the December fight he is teasing is not against current WBA "regular" super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding.
DeGale has only fought once this year, defeating Caleb Truax in Las Vegas by unanimous decision to recapture the IBF title he lost to Truax last December at the Copper Box Arena in London.
An Olympic gold medalist from 2008, the 32-year-old DeGale won’t be the only British boxer to compete on September 30 as heavyweight prospect Joe Joyce is also scheduled to fight 28-fight veteran Iago Kiladze on the undercard as well.
