James DaGale was shocked after losing to American boxer, Caleb Truax at London’s Copper Box Arena. His defeat which has made him lose his IBF world super-middleweight title to Truax as he has vow to get back to the drawing board in preparation for the next bout.
Truax won on the cards by 114-114 115-112 116-112. This was DaGale first fight since January and was favoured by bookmakers. It was also on offer by Pinnacle Live Casino offers 2018.
31 year old DaGale was missing something in the ring, this was according to him. His recovery from his surgery earlier in July might have contributed to the defeat. His opponent who was 3 years older was a constant teat throughout the fight especially in the fifth round as his rally round the British who lost his second career bout. The other was against his fellow British boxer, George Grooves in 2011.
In a post-match interview, DaGale said as quoted by source that, “My nose is blocked again, I’ve got to sort it out. The shoulder – I had serious reconstruction – there’s no pain but I’ll have to go back, have a look and see. I’ve probably rushed back to be honest, maybe I should have waited till next year.”
In 32 but now, Truax increased his winning rate ad he now has 29 wins to 3 defeat. When asked about fighting in UK he replied in the affirmative. “I’d love to [fight in the UK again]. I’m staying until Wednesday – if anybody sees me, buy some pints.”
The win came as a big shocker in the sport and will go down as the biggest upset in the year.
With a rematch most likely to happen, big bout between DaGale and the likes of WBA super-middleweight champion George Groves, or other stellar names at the weight such as Callum Smith or Chris Eubank Jr will be push forward to entertain the rematch.
Traux bank account will be bigger than it was before the bout has he now has more than his bargain cut in the fight.
The match was basically won in the fifth round. A deadly uppercut followed by a ramrod was all that was needed to make him miss his feet.
He tried to salvage something in the seventh round when he had two counter left punches but this was not enough to break Traux and he return to steady the fight in his favour in the eighth when he gave a right hook in the abdomen to DaGale. The 2008 Olympic gold medalist had his last chance in the tenth but it was too late to deny a second defeat in his career.
Finally, Traux became a champion after his second attempt, his first coming against Daniel Jacob in 2015. A big achievement for the career of the American boxer. He will now hope to use this to get more high class fight for himself. Can only wish him well going forward.