James DeGale will have to travel to the USA for his shot at the vacant IBF super-middleweight title after ‘Warriors Boxing’ won a purse bid.
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DeGale had hoped to get Andre Dirrell over to London on April 25, but that will no longer be the case after promoter Eddie Hearn initially broke the news on Twitter.
Hearn stated that he had bid $2.105m on the fight while Warriors Boxing, backed by Al Haymon, won the bidding with an offer of $3.1m.
No date or location has been announced as of yet, but it will be disappointing news for Hearn, DeGale and his fans in the UK who would have hoped to have seen him make history in London.
The two fighters will meet for the IBF title that Carl Froch vacated earlier this year, with DeGale established as his mandatory challenger while Dirrell was the next in line.
Such is the confidence in the 29-year-old, he shrugged the news off on Twitter and insisted that it didn’t matter where the fight was taking place, as ultimately he believes he is destined to make history.
The Londoner will become the first British boxer to win an Olympic gold medal to then go on to win a world title in the professional ranks if he is able to defeat Dirrell, but the odds will likely be against him now fighting abroad as he will need an even better performance if it potentially comes down to scorecards.
Nevertheless, DeGale has already started training camp for the bout and it is expected that an announcement on when and where the fight is taking place will arrive shortly.
purse bids won by Al Haymon at £3.1m – fight will be staged in USA – date and location TBC – ring is a ring I'm still making history!!
— James Degale (@jamesdegale1) March 10, 2015
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