James DeRailed by WBChavez

Yesterday, a spanner was thrown into the works of the super-middleweight division by the WBC governing body. There were reports that Mexican fighter Julio Cesar Chavez Jr has been placed into the number one spot for a shot at Sakio Bika’s WBC crown, ahead of James DeGale MBE.

If these reports are correct, then it’s not fair. DeGale is the current WBC silver champion and was set to fight Badou Jack in an eliminator with the winner to face Bika. This was until Badou Jack was stopped in the first round against Derek Edwards, on Friday night. DeGale kept his focus on Saturday night and went on to stop Gervorg Khatchikian in the eleventh round, in a defence of his WBC silver title. It appeared that in doing so, he had earned himself a mandatory spot to challenge Bika in his next fight, live on Channel Five.

Also on Saturday night, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr fought in a rematch with Brian Vera for the vacant WBC Continental Americas title, which he won with a promising display, all three judges scoring it in favour of Chavez Jr.

It looks as though the WBC is showing favouritism towards Chavez Jr, as he's the son of Mexican boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez. If this is the case then it's harsh on James DeGale. He was set to face Marco Antonio Periban in an eliminator but the Mexican didn't want the fight, then Badou Jack lost and this looks to have derailed DeGale's route to a world title, for now anyway. I think the majority of boxing fans would agree it is wrong, whether they're a fan of DeGale or not. The bottom line is he deserves his shot.

I believe the fairest scenario would be to set up a final eliminator between James DeGale and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr with the winner getting to face Sakio Bika. DeGale was meant to be fighting for an eliminator in the first place. He shouldn't be completely shafted out of the picture because the WBC is favouring Chavez Jr.

If the WBC awarded DeGale his well-deserved shot and he was victorious against the current champion Bika, which I believe he would be, then how about a massive domestic unification fight down the line, with the winner of Froch v Groves 2? Could you imagine Froch v DeGale or Groves v DeGale 2 with three world titles on the line? I can, now there’s a thought.

If James was given his well-deserved shot then they'd probably have to make Chavez Jr the mandatory challenger for his first defence, or something along those lines. As it stands though, it looks as if Chavez Jr is going to get the shot ahead of DeGale.

I know a lot of boxing fans that aren't too keen on James DeGale, they either don't rate him, or find him arrogant. I admit he's not to everyone's taste and hasn't always been in the biggest fights since the loss to George Groves, but you can't deny he has a ridiculous amount of skill and talent. Let's face the facts, you don't win an Olympic gold medal and get awarded the MBE if you're not an exceptional boxer!

I hope the WBC sees sense, and either gives DeGale the shot, or sets up an eliminator against Chavez JR. Let's be honest, you wouldn't want to be screwed over the way James Degale has in any way, shape or form, would you?

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