The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsJames DeGale won the IBF Super-Middleweight crown with a unanimous points victory over plucky American Andre Dirrell, becoming the first British Olympic gold medalist to win a world title.
The British fighter was made to work by Dirrell despite DeGale dropping the American twice in the second round, working hard in the early rounds before Dirrell clawed his way back into the fight as the clash entered the latter rounds.
The final two rounds went the way of the British fighter with Dirrell looking like his earlier mid-fight exploits had caught up with him. The judges scored the fight in favour of the Brit by 114-112, 114-112 and bizarrely 117-109 from the Canadian judge.
Post-fight DeGale made the claim that only Andre Ward was better than him, something fellow Brit Carl Froch have have something to say about that, though a re-match between DeGale and the only fighter to beat him George Groves, who was beaten twice by the Cobra, looks more likely.
