James DeGale made history by claiming the vacant IBF super-middleweight title with a thrilling unanimous decision victory over Andre Dirrell in Boston.

DeGale has become the first person to win Olympic gold and a world crown in the professional ranks for Britain after withstanding a fierce comeback from his American opponent.

The Londoner appeared on course for a sensational early stoppage after dropping Dirrell twice in the second round, with the first knockdown coming from a brutal overhand left.

Dirrell weathered the storm in the early rounds as DeGale looked for the knockout and even came on strong in the second half of the fight.

But DeGale finished strongly and two judges scored the fight 114-112 in his favor, with the third of 117-109 seemingly a bit harsh on Dirrell.

Carl Froch, one of the biggest names in the super middleweight division, gave his thoughts on the fight. DeGale was Froch's mandatory challenger for the IBF crown, but the Nottingham man was not interested in the match and vacated the belt.

"It was a great win. I was very concerned from [round] four or five onwards," Froch told Sky Sports News. "I was concerned he would chuck it away and couldn't come back enough to me, letting Dirrell take the centre of the ring and look like he was in control.

"It was difficult to score because not much was landing either way but I saw the fight slipping away from him. I wanted more from DeGale. I was disappointed with the fact he didn’t throw enough shots or look like he wanted the world title. But he did enough. He just did enough on my card."

“[Dirrell] showed he has got that mental side sorted, he really dug in because he was in trouble in the second round, with those two knockdowns. The second one wasn’t a knockdown, more of a push, but he went over twice and his legs were wobbling.

“DeGale went to finish him off but his powers of recovery were great. He stuck to his boxing, stuck to his jab and looking at my scorecard, he was bossing the middle and late rounds. He just wasn’t doing enough work for me. He was a worthy winner, don’t get me wrong. He is a world champion, so fair play to him.”