There was some excitement and some less than exciting fights on the undercard of Saturday nights Cleverly v Bellew II bill but James DeGale v Marco Antonio Periban wasn’t one of them.
DaGale seems to be on a roll since he appeared at Wembley on May 31 on the Froch v Groves II card. DeGale got off to a great start and took Periban out in 30 seconds of the 3rd round making for me a fight against possibly George Groves more likely than him meeting Carl Froch.
James DeGale: “He’s never been stopped, Sakio Bika couldn’t stop him and I was only getting warmed up. That left hand is my shot at the moment. I hit him and he was stumbling around, he wasn’t in a position to carry on.
“I’ll come out and watch George Groves but don’t worry about him, I am the mandatory for the IBF title – I want to make history.
“I like Carl but it feels like he doesn’t want to fight me, I respect him but I think he’s being a bit of a coward not fighting me – fight me or vacate the title.”
Carl Froch responded “It was a great performance by James, he was landing a lot of big shots and switching and he did the job with what was in front of him. Boxing is a business, I have a promoter and if the fight makes financial sense, it will happen. I want to fight in Las Vegas and if anyone has the right to pick and choose where they fight, it’s me.”
George Groves v Marco Antonio Periban
George Groves fight with Denis Douglin was another matter entirely with the first 6 rounds looking pretty close and Groves getting caught by the durable southpaw.
Groves cannot afford to get caught if he is to realize his dream of becoming super-middleweight champion of the world. But the Londoner proved he can still punch by dropping Douglin earliy in the 7th and having him in touble befor the ref had seen enough and called a hault at 2.54 of the round.
George Groves told DAILY SPORT Boxing “Paddy gave me 5 out of 10 and I will agree. Fighting a southpaw was different and was what I needed, he was a good fighter, he was good inside and I didn’t want to scrap with him inside.
“Good to get another stoppage and it roll on the big one now. I want to take the quickest route to a World title and that’s the Dirrell fight. I want to be a world champ and bring the belt to Britain. I’ll be a World champion next year.”
Scott Quigg v Hidenori Othake
Scott Quigg proved he was world class successfully defending his title against tough Japanese opposition Hidenori Othake who took Quigg the distance and was never going to get taken out. Quigg rocked the JAP at the end of the 2nd and also cut his right eye in the 10th but this seemed to make Othake even more determined to go the distance and try to pull this one out of the bag. Quigg took the fight on all 3 cards 119-109, 119-109 and 118-110.
Quigg could now go on to have a massive unification fight with Carl Frampton next year?
Quigg said: “I tell you what, I know his head is tough, I tried to pour on the gas at the end and landed some great combinations but he wasn’t going nowhere and fair play to him, but 12 rounds is never a bad thing to get under your belt.”
Eddie Hearn added: “Scott has earned a holiday over Christmas but we’re looking at March 28 in Manchester. It takes two to tango, we want those big fight and we’re pushing for them all the time.”
Anthony Joshua v Michael Sprott
Anthony Joshua took his pro tally to 10-0 stopping veteran heavyweigh Michael Sprott in just 89 seconds. Sprott was out classed from the off and it was only a matter of time before AJ took him out.
Brief results
Super-middleweight Callum Smith retained his WBC international title over 12 rounds on points beating Nikola Sjekloca. Smith won easily on points taking its 118-111, 120-108 and 118-110 on the judges cards.
Jamie McDonnell retained the WBA bantamweight title after tough oppo Javier Chacon retired in the 10th round due to a shoulder injury. McDonnell struggled with the Argentine as he was shorter, awkward and kept ducking low. Whilst not McDonnell’s best performance he retained the belt and is now set to go to Vegas in the New Year to face WBO champ Tomoki Kameda in a big money unification fight.
Light-Welterweight Bradley Saunders made his Matchroom debut and beat Latvian Ivans Levickis over 6 rounds on points 60-54.
And rising German super-middleweight 19yo Vincent Feigenbutz took his pro tally to 17-1, 16 KO’s on his UK debut stopping Olegs Fedotovs in the 7th round of their 8 rounder.