Olympic Gold for classy DeGale by Kerry Duffy Aug 24th 2008

James Degale emerged from a frustrating fight to win gold for Great Britain in his Middleweight final against Cuba's Emilio Bayeaux Correa. After a tentative start to the first round, Degale began to control proceedings, moving well to pick up the points. Towards the end of round one, Correa's frustration began to show as he held on to Degale, trying to negate his work. Rather bizarrely, Correa assisted with Degale's 6-1 lead by conceding two points for taking a nibble out of Degale's shoulder! Round two began with Degale keeping his distance but things soon degenerated into a messy affair with both men falling to the floor more than once after dancing around the ring, neither willing to give the other space to work. Degale continued to score, however and remained 10-4 ahead. After spending the previous rounds expending so much energy during their grappling, both fighters looked tired and frustrated. Round three saw Correa begin his fight back and with some degree of success as Degale was warned for holding, thus gifting Correa two precious points. 12-10 to Degale. The final round was a frantic affair with more visits to the canvas for the both of them after falling over each other, but keeping his distance from the strong Cuban between sporadic bursts of activity enabled Degale to fall to his knees at the final bell as Olympic champion.

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