James DeGale stunned by Caleb Truax in IBF super-middleweight world title upset

So confident was James DeGale of defending his IBF super-middleweight title against Caleb Truax that he had been barely even bothering to sell his comeback bout. “If you look at my last four fights I've fought Badou Jack, Rogelio Medina, Lucian Bute and Andre Dirrell all in North America,” he noted at the start of this week. “I deserve someone who's not a world beater.”

But if Truax is not a world beater — what does that make DeGale? The unheralded American, who was 16/1 for victory with most bookmakers at the start of the night, put together the performance of his career to stun DeGale with a majority decision and snatch away his world title, dictating matters from the second round and collapsing to the canvas in tears at the sound of the final bell.

Before the fight, DeGale had told anybody who would listen of his plan to take on both David Benavidez and his old rival George Groves in a bold attempt to unify the division. Those plans are now in tatters, as Truax was only too keen to remind him as the shocked east London crowd filed miserably towards the exit. “All week all I heard was who he's going to fight next,” he smiled. “Well, guess what — those fights are mine now.”

The 31-year-old’s domestic rivals didn't take long to twist the knife. “Call it a day mate, you ain’t got no more,” Groves wrote on Twitter. Chris Eubank Jr — dismissed as “bringing nothing to the table other than a name” by DeGale earlier in the year — was even more scathing. “After all the trash talk and disrespectful comments you go and put on a display like that! All I can say is WOW. You have properly let down British boxing, shameful.”

A somewhat shellshocked DeGale simply conceded that he needed to “return to the drawing board”.

“It’s crazy and I can’t believe it,” he said, his disbelieving face smeared in blood. “I have boxed at a high level for two-and-a-half years and I have got to get back to the drawing board. I have got to sort certain things out and change things. I’m just gutted — I’m so upset.”

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The Londoner underwent surgery on his right shoulder following his controversial draw with Badou Jack back in January, but that could not really be used as an excuse here. His problem was not a lack of movement but a complete dearth of aggression; as he failed to dominate behind a pawing jab, Truax walking him down from the second round onward.

Truax’s dominance became damningly clear in the fifth, which DeGale only narrowly survived. A huge ramrod right drew blood and Truax then set to work on the body, backing DeGale up onto the ropes and almost dropping him with a punishing combination which culminated in a clean right uppercut.

DeGale did well to steady the ship in the sixth but continued to drop rounds and was dragged into deep water once again in the tenth, when Truax again pinned him to the ropes and almost dispatching him to the canvas with another nasty uppercut. It was a clear victory for the 34-year-old — who had lost his only previous world title attempt to Daniel Jacobs — and nothing short of a disgrace that one of the ringside judges scored the contest 114-114. Fortunately the other two ruled in his favour, in a result that will go down as one of the biggest upsets of the year.

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Earlier, Lee Selby defended his IBF world featherweight title against Eduardo Ramirez to at least end his annus horribilis on an optimistic note — even if his performance left much to be desired.

The Welshman has had a miserable 12 months and lost his mother just a few days before his last fight against Jonathan Victor Barros in July, which had to be postponed after the Argentine had failed a blood test in January, scuppering his dream of fighting in Las Vegas. And his preparation for this contest was less than ideal, with Ramirez briefly going AWOL ahead of Thursday’s press conference only to then turn up and miss weight by eight pounds.

That meant that Selby’s IBF title was never on the line, which could have contributed to his rather sluggish performance. He won via a unanimous points decision but his punches lacked power and, until a more promising final round, he showed little interest in getting Ramirez out of the ring early.

The result looks likely to set up a mouth-watering domestic clash with Josh Warrington, which could take place in the Spring. “It's a massive fight,” Selby acknowledged after his 22nd consecutive victory. “Josh has earned the mandatory position so to get there he has to be a good fighter. It would be fantastic for British boxing.”

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There was also a win for light-heavyweight Anthony Yarde who stopped Nikola Sjekloća in the most impressive victory of his fledgling career.

Yarde was taking a big step up to take on the Montenegrin veteran, who had never before been knocked out in his 11-year professional career and had gone the distance with the likes of Arthur Abraham, Tyron Zeuge and Callum Smith.

But he was no match for the fast-rising Yarde, who dropped Sjekloća with a heavy right-hand in the second and finished him off in the fourth. A showdown with the British light-heavyweight champion Frank Buglioni now looks increasingly likely.

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Meanwhile, exciting British heavyweight Daniel Dubois picked up the WBC International Silver title by stopping Dorian Darch in just 231-seconds — exactly the same amount of time it took Anthony Joshua to stop the Welshman back in 2014.

Dubois floored Darch no fewer than three times before a devastating right-hook ended the contest, as the 20-year-old moved 6-0. He will now likely face the unbeaten Nick Webb for the English heavyweight title, a fight ordered by the British Boxing Board of Control for early next year.