James DeGale retains his title

Former olympic gold medalist James DeGale successfully defended his IBF super middleweight title for the first time with a unanimous decision over Canada’s Lucian Bute.

DeGale won the title earlier this year with a points win over Andre Dirrell.

DeGale, 29, warned before Saturday’s fight in Quebec City that he would come out swinging and that is exactly what he did at the opening bell.

The Briton had to deal with a cut above his left eye, caused by an accidental clash of heads, but DeGale’s speed often kept him just out of range and he was able to come up with a number of telling combinations.

The Brit continued to land his strikes in the latter rounds as the Romanian-born Canadian began to fade under the pressure of the blows.

However, the 29-year-old’s victory was confirmed through the judges who scored the match 116-112, 117-111, 117-111 in his favour.

DeGale promised a fast start and a quick early pace. “But I’m young, fresh and peaking now”.

“I lost only two rounds, according to me, so I won the fight”, Alvarez said through a translator.

“I’m predicting a tough fight because when you’re the champion, you’re the champion”, Alvarez said.

Meanwhile, at ringside, Stevenson and Russian Sergey Kovalev had a brief chat and Kovalev later tweeted about a possible unification showdown in June.

“It’s a close fight, physical fight”, Stevenson said. The fight was then stopped at 2:34 of the round by referee Alain Villeneuve. “I’m healthy, I feel great physically”. The fight would take place in Las Vegas, Nevada.

With the title fight against Postol unavailable for several months, Imam, 25, doesn’t regret taking the fight against Granados. “I didn’t want to wait for the six to eight months for the world title shot”. What does that mean?

“I’m going to start fast and throw loads of punches”.