JAMES DEGALE HAS has announced his retirement from boxing following his defeat to Chris Eubank Jr at the O2 Arena on Saturday.

The former IBF super-middleweight world champion bows out 10 years to the day from his professional debut against Vepkhia Tchilaia.

DeGale had already won an Olympic middleweight gold medal at the 2008 Games in Beijing and would go on to become a two-time world champion, first claiming the vacant IBF belt with victory over Andre Dirrell in Boston in 2015.

Defeat to Caleb Truax in December 2017 saw him lose the title, but DeGale went to Nevada last year to reclaim the championship against the same man. He later dropped the belt in a bid to chase more lucrative fights, but defeat to Eubank in a battle for the vacant IBO strap has seen DeGale call time on his career with a record of 25-3-1.

In a statement today, DeGale said: “It’s been an unbelievable journey and I’ve had an amazing decade.

“It [is] hard to admit that I’m not the fighter I once was, but I’m human and, along the way, my injuries have taken a toll – both on mind and body.

“These things have contributed to impact my performance in the ring. “I lost the fight on Saturday at the O2 but I’m touched to have [had] a good send off from the fans in my home city.”

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