Why does Degale give away so many rounds?

[Tom Cruise]

Every fight. Even against guys who he is clearly better than.

He is so talented, when he switches on he is awesome. Strong on the inside, long and fast on the outside, good angles etc.

Then he just stops for whole periods of the fight. Is it just pacing issues? He often fights well in the championship rounds so I dont think its purely stamina. Maybe concentration?

Can be very frustrating. If he was switched on the whole fight vs Dirrell he would have won a clear UD, maybe even stopped him late imo.

[MDPopescu]

Every fight. Even against guys who he is clearly better than.

He is so talented, when he switches on he is awesome. Strong on the inside, long and fast on the outside, good angles etc.

Then he just stops for whole periods of the fight. Is it just pacing issues? He often fights well in the championship rounds so I dont think its purely stamina. Maybe concentration?

Can be very frustrating. If he was switched on the whole fight vs Dirrell he would have won a clear UD, maybe even stopped him late imo.

I think that he wanted to play it safe... and have a stronger finish...
(You can't say that he didn't succeed...)

[Tom Cruise]

I think that he wanted to play it safe... and have a stronger finish...
(You can't say that he didn't succeed...)

Obviously he won so full credit. But two of the scorecards had him winning due to the 12th round lol. I wouldnt call that playing it safe, especially as he looked like he could win rounds when he wanted

[Caught Square]

He didn't give anything away, Dirrell made adjustments to his looping left hand and was taking centre of the ring. the rounds where Dirrell was coming on strong still weren't as good as his round 2, before the knockdown of course. Dirrell was winning round 2 BIG but got careless. Once he got his legs/confidence back Degale looked out of ideas until round 11 and 12.

[Tom Cruise]

He didn't give anything away, Dirrell made adjustments to his looping left hand and was taking centre of the ring. the rounds where Dirrell was coming on strong still weren't as good as his round 2, before the knockdown of course. Dirrell was winning round 2 BIG but got careless. Once he got his legs/confidence back Degale looked out of ideas until round 11 and 12.

If this was a one off you would have a point, but I've seen this from Degale almost his whole career. Whether Dirrell made adjustments or not, Degale definitely switched off for a few rounds and had nowhere near the same intensity

[Caught Square]

If this was a one off you would have a point, but I've seen this from Degale almost his whole career. Whether Dirrell made adjustments or not, Degale definitely switched off for a few rounds and had nowhere near the same intensity

Now that i think about it i remember his fight with Mohoumadi and he was on the ropes quite a lot. In the post fight he said he just needed to take a breather. Pacing himself like you said could be the reason.

[jreckoning]

I think a lot of it was because Dirrell adapted. What DeGale was having success with early wasn't working as well later so he was trying to figure out how to recreate that success.

Dirrell was blocking a lot more shots that were buzzing him early so I feel like in his mind DeGale was trying to suss out what would work.

It took him a minute or five to do it, but he ended up doing it.

I do think he didn't want to shoot his load for later as well because Dirrell was dangerous the whole fight. DeGale got clipped with some short lefts inside and I honestly think that made him pause a bit.

[Beercules]

I thought he gassed.

[jreckoning]

I thought he gassed.

He's got a pretty good poker face I think.

[Beercules]

He's got a pretty good poker face I think.

Dude was really trying to take Andre out.


He literally gave away like 4 rounds