by Frank Warren

JAMES DEGALE VENTURES into away territory in his bid to retrieve his valuable lost property this weekend in Las Vegas and become a two-time world champion.

Live and exclusive on BoxNation, Chunky is seeking to avenge a defeat to Caleb Truax that was one of the major boxing shocks of 2017.

The 32-year-old DeGale needs to right a lot of wrongs from the December night at the Copper Box if the IBF world super middleweight title belt is to be accompanying him on his journey back to London.

The ‘experts’ described the first fight as an epic mismatch when it was first announced and James was something like 10-1 on when he got into the ring. He then fought like a 20-1 outsider and Truax seized his big moment and was the rightful winner on the night.

We can all have an off-night, but this time James has got to go out there and really impose himself from the off. He can’t just box off the backfoot, he must force the pace and win it.

I understand he has said himself that he will be left with nowhere to go if he can’t defeat Truax and I think this is true. He is also needs to make a statement that says to everyone that December was a blip.

He won’t do that by laying on the ropes, he needs to be positive and moving forward. He can’t let the rounds slip away and, as soon as that bell goes, he needs to be dominant.

Sometimes James does have a habit of letting those middle rounds drift in fights. He has got to fight every round like it is the last round.

The shoulder surgery he underwent previously has been held up in some quarters as an excuse for the lacklustre performance first time around but, if it wasn’t right, he shouldn’t have been in there.

The fact of the matter is as the fight went on he never really looked like he was at the races and how he thought he was winning the fight, I don’t know. How he was being told he was winning the fight is beyond me.

As I always say though, it is not defeats that define you, it is how you come back from them. I am sure the British public will get behind him in his comeback and I hope he does the business.

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