Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has sent a good luck letter to British super-middleweight star James DeGale ahead of his title fight in Boston this weekend.
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DeGale is an avid Arsenal fan and regularly attends games at the Emirates; however, his focus has been on Andre Dirrell for the past few months – the pair meet in Boston on Saturday for the IBF super-middleweight title.
The 29-year-old had been chasing a fight with domestic rival Carl Froch for the belt, but the Nottingham-born fighter opted to vacate the strap instead earlier this year as he continues to mull over his options moving forward with retirement touted as a real possibility.
Nevertheless, all eyes will be on Boston this weekend as DeGale attempts to make history by becoming the first British Olympic gold medallist to become a world champion in the professional ranks.
It would mark an incredible turnaround for ‘Chunky’ since his loss to bitter rival George Groves back in 2011 – the Londoner’s brash persona hasn’t always gone down brilliantly with the general public.
However, it would appear as though he has won over a lot of his critics over the past 18 months, and that has coincided with his switch to Matchroom with promoter Eddie Hearn surprising him at the press conference on Thursday.
Hearn read the letter out to the assembled media with Wenger hoping to see the Brit come back to the Emirates next time as a world champion.
The French tactician was asked about the fight in his own press conference on Friday, adding that he is a “secret boxing fan” but conceded that he is a “very bad boxer” himself, as reported by Arsenal.com.
Dirrell is the slight favourite to prevail on Saturday, but there is a great deal of confidence amongst the DeGale camp that he can get the win and write his name into the history books.
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