How James DeGale turned a negative into a positive

To begin to understand how James DeGale got to the top of the mountain in boxing’s super middleweight division, it’s best to look back at his low moment as a professional.

DeGale won the middleweight gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He instantly became a huge star in the United Kingdom, where he was born and raised.

In just his 11th professional fight, DeGale fought George Groves for the British super middleweight title on May 21, 2011. It was a fight that DeGale figured to win.

It was supposed to be a pathway toward a world title for DeGale. Instead, it was a disaster. He wasn’t properly prepared and shockingly suffered a majority decision defeat.

On Saturday in Washington, D.C., DeGale will make the second defense of his IBF super middleweight title against Rogelio Medina in a bout to be televised by Showtime. That loss nearly five years ago seems like just a blip on the radar, an outlier to be ignored.

DeGale, though, certainly doesn’t look at it that way. That defeat has everything to do with the fighter he’s become.

“That fight has made me the man I am today, and that loss I think was a blessing in disguise,” DeGale told Yahoo Sports. “I needed that in my life and in my career. It made me a better man. It made me train a lot harder. It made me take boxing a lot more seriously than I had been.”

DeGale’s blunt words and brutally direct self-assessment stands in contrast to the majority of high-end athletes.

But DeGale wasn’t living the life of a champion and found out quickly that all the medals and trophies on the shelf mean little in boxing without honest effort.

“Coming out of the Olympic Games, I was the golden boy and I got put up on a pedestal,” he said. “I got stuff handed to me. People expected me to be a world champion but after that loss, I hit rock bottom.

“I was at a low point. In the build-up to that fight, I was very vocal. I did a lot of trash talking. And I just wasn’t doing what I needed to do to win. I wound up losing, and even though a lot of people thought I deserved to win, I got what I deserved. The good part is that it made me a better man for having gone through that.”

DeGale fundamentally altered his approach to his life and his job. He enjoyed the nightlife far too much, which isn’t bad for an accountant or a salesman but can quickly end dreams of glory for a professional athlete.

And so DeGale did the only thing he could do after that fight: He changed his approach.

He worked harder and partied less. He became a student of the game, focusing on the smaller details and wasn’t so worried about enhancing his celebrity.

He defeated Andre Dirrell last May to win the world title and defended it successfully in a spirited battle with Lucian Bute six months later.

DeGale turned a negative into a positive and now understands the value of a much more Spartan lifestyle.

“My coach told me the easy bit is winning the world title, but that the hardest part is to keep it,” he said. “You have to take it up a level. I train very hard in the gym and that’s the thing that people don’t see. But I’m always very fit now and I’m able to go hard all 12 rounds.

“I made history. I’m the first Olympic gold medalist in British history to win a world title. Now, I want to build some sort of legacy. Back how, everyone knows me but now, I want to take it worldwide.”

He’s signed with prominent boxing manager Al Haymon and has begun to campaign in North America.

It’s all part of a calculated campaign to build his brand. If he successfully defends his belt on Saturday, he hopes to fight the winner of the main event, which features Bute against WBC champion Badou Jack.

Down the road, he’s willing to take on all of the big names, including the hugely popular middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.

“I’m not only willing and ready, I’m eager for that fight, to be honest with you,” he said of a bout with Golovkin. “When he steps up, it’s going to be telling. I punch extremely hard. And I hear all of this about him, but when you look at his record, tell me the best name. Once he steps up, I think people will see.”

That’s down the road, and DeGale doesn’t want to much look ahead. Part of his new persona is trying to make sure he learns every time out.

He was in magnificent shape for Bute, which was only his second fight in North America, and it turned out to be a good thing. He learned another lesson from that fight.

“If I’m being honest, I’d have to tell you that Lucian Bute shocked me in that fight,” DeGale said. “I didn’t think he was a finished fighter, exactly, but I thought he’d lost it a little bit after the [2012] stoppage loss to Carl Froch. I thought he’d lost it, and wasn’t the same guy.

“But you know what? All credit to him, because he showed toughness and grit and skill at the highest level.”

More importantly, though, is that he says his win despite Bute being so unexpectedly good made another point to him.

“I learned I’m the best in the world,” DeGale said. “Lucian Bute had the world title for five years, he made nine defenses and he’s a good, good fighter. The fight before that, I beat Andre Dirrell, who comes from a good pedigree and is a hell of a southpaw.

“It just shows you the kind of fighter I am when I focus and do my job. I learned a hard lesson and I never have forgotten it.”