Olympic Boxing:British Golden Boy James DeGale Shines At Beijing

Having beaten Ireland’s Darren Sullivan to win a place in the middleweight final – Great Britain’s James DeGale’s confidence soared and it seemed there was no stopping the Sheffield man.

DeGale’s final showdown came against Cuban – Emilio Correa. In the opening half minute – DeGale scores first against Correa. Boxing well – DeGale is 4-1 up as the first frame comes to an end but as the final seconds tick away – DeGale jumps back gesturing to his chest.

It seems that the Cuban has ’bitten’ DeGale! The British boxer is awarded two points for the incident and DeGale is now 6-1 up at the end of round one.

‘Calm down’, DeGale’s trainer Terry Edwards urges his charge during the ‘break’.

Correa looks to be frustrated. He tries some desperate moves in the opening seconds of round two and catches the counter-punching Brit with a couple of good shots, but it gets a bit messy this round as both men end up in a tangle on the canvas more than once! DeGale finishes the round 10-4.

Correa comes out of his corner ‘fired-up’ and immediately lands a punch at the start of round three. The contest turns into a wrestling match as both men ‘rough it up’ on the ropes.

After almost a minute gone – DeGale is ‘docked’ a point for holding on – the score now 11-7 to DeGale. A very messy round with the margin narrowing between these two as DeGale is ahead by just two points now, 12-10.

Almost immediately, the two men gambol over and both are on the canvas at the start of the fourth and final round. An exciting, nail-biting final frame as the margin teeters around two points and DeGale risks it with some ‘pulling over’ of his opponent.

The final score is 16-14 and James DeGale wins Gold for Great Britain!

Team GB also achieved two Bronze Medals in the boxing competition. David Price sadly was stopped in round two of his semi-final super heavyweight contest against Roberto Cammarelle of Italy.

Welterweight Tony Jeffries lost his semi-final contest against Ireland’s Kenny Egan by a score of 10-3. Egan went on to win Silver after facing Chinese favourite Zhang Xiaoping in the final bout.