James_DeGale's Blog by James_DeGale

It’s been a while since I've had time to sit down and write about what’s been going on. The past couple of weeks I have been all focused on my big fight against George Groves. There was a lot of hype leading up to the fight, mostly angled around the fact that we really don’t like each other, which is the understatement of the year. I lost the fight. Losing is hard, but losing by 1 point is even harder! One week on from the fight and it's still raw. I am not gonna lie I'm disappointed, but onwards and upwards! It is what it is - it was a defeat, but it's how I come back from this that matters and that's what I'll be focusing all my energy on, believe me! As a sportsman, you work so intensely in training with all the dedication and commitment you have in you and when you don't get the result you want OR DESERVE, it's harsh and hits you hard.

And no matter what anyone else says - nothing can make you feel better, but in time, it's true what they say; "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger!" Thank God I've got my family and team around me. Such immense support, positivity and encouragement and nothing can beat the DeGale spirit! I want to give a special mention to my little nephew who always brings a smile to my face. I know his affection is 100% genuine. He doesn’t judge me or have an opinion on how the fight went. He doesn’t care whether I win or lose. He doesn’t want me to analyse any of my fights. All he's interested in, is me chasing him around the house and playing games with him. He puts the world into perspective for me.

That’s not taking the credit away from any of my team. You guys know who you are, and you know what your support means to me. The amount of support I've had from my fans and followers has been amazing! Thank you guys! It really helps to give encouragement and enthusiasm and belief in my path! Some people say you learn more about yourself when you lose rather than you win, and I actually think this might be true. I have been lucky enough to win a fair few fights in my time and winning the Olympic gold medal was my finest hour. Don’t get me wrong, I worked hard for that medal, probably harder than the other fighters. But sometimes I wonder how I would have coped if I had not won a medal or even got selected. I know how hard the boxers are training for 2012, but not all of them are going to get selected and some may even lose fights that they deserve to win. This is going to be mentally hard for all athletes in 2012. The world will be watching and expectations will be high.

They just need to ensure they have a great team around them to catch them just in case they do fall, or fingers crossed a great team around them to party with them when they win a gold medal. Either way my recent fight has taught me how lucky I am to have MY team around me and I couldn’t be who I am without them. Luckily I already had a couple of things booked for after the fight. On Tuesday it was back to work with an XBOX Kinect sesssion to promo boxing on the sports game. It was really good fun and so lifelike, I'm thinking of incorporating it into my next training camp. Early Wednesday it was off to Marbella to chill with the boys - I'm sure some sun, sea, sand & Sangria will help to soften the blow - excuse the pun! I've got a meeting coming up with my promoter this week to go over the fight and talk about the next fight, so it'll be back to the gym before I know it. I think Frank has it planned for September and hopefully it'll be a fight to stay on track for the world title in 2012 - nothing will stand in my path for that!

Wow the weather's definitely on the up, but for how long? The temperatures have been higher than the whole of Europe. Happy days! Only downfall is I have to train in the heat, but hey ho all part of my job. What a great sporting weekend it was! Man City v Man United at Wembley on the Saturday and the London Marathon on the Sunday. A fire under the elevated section of the M1 caused mayhem for many. All those poor guys who had to tackle the M1 diversions and still made it despite the longer travelling times. They are the diehard fans! One of my supporters Jason Rouse ran his first Marathon in 5hrs 50 mins for the charity Heart UK in memory of his late father. Well done J! So glad the schools were on half term as the disruption certainly made my journey times to the gym longer.

But it was another busy week with training and promotion interviews: I had a great evening at QPR to watch the Derby game. At half-time I donned a QPR shirt and had a Q & A session on the pitch. Jim swerved wearing the shirt as he is an avid Gooner and refused to be a traitor! Good game and great hospitality! I can't wait for them to be promoted to the Premiership. Good luck boys! Matt Slater from the BBC came to the gym for an interview and photo shoot. Check it out here; Donaeo's new song Check My Swagga Out is released on 30th May. He asked me to be in his video to promote the song. It was good fun working on that this week. Song title very apt for me as people say I've got swagger! There was also another appearance on Ringside this week. My stablemate Nathan Cleverly joined me for a bit of banter with Johnnie and Adam.

Training this week was robust and physically demanding, with only four weeks until my fight. It consisted of long runs; sprints; track conditioning; weights; boxing workouts; strength and conditioning Once again Jim had to put his Arsenal loyalties aside as we went to Tottenham’s training ground for a couple of training sessions in their altitude chamber. Jim didn’t have to think twice about coming with me. I know that he wants me to be the best I can be, and that means becoming a World Champion. Each week he impresses me with his dedication, focus and attention to detail. To be honest I couldn't wish for a better trainer and mentor.

He has been there and done it, so he knows all the highs and lows of the game! These sessions were challenging and rewarding and afterwards I felt on top of the world! After an eventful week, Saturday was my rest day! My sister arranged for family and friends to go to one of our local parks for a kick about and picnic. It was nice to kick back and have some fun and catch up with everyone. Easter Sunday was a day of rest for everyone except me, with another session at the gym. No rest for the wicked and no Easter eggs for me, boo! All worth it in the end though – because it takes hard work and dedication to be the best!

I didn’t have the best start to the week. I woke up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat and had to leg it to the bathroom. I then spent the whole day throwing up. I’m not sure if I had eaten something dodgy that night or if it was a virus. Either way I was gutted as I was meant to be going to the launch of the Team GB 2012 Ambassador programme . The British Olympic Association had asked if I would join other Olympic gold medalists and become an ambassador. I felt really honoured to be asked. Other Ambassadors included Denise Lewis, Kelly Holmes, Sharron Davies, Daley Thompson, Tessa Sanderson, Steve Backley. As part of my ambassador role I will at some point go along and meet some of the guys competing in London 2012 and pass on a few tips which will hopefully help them win their gold medal. I still felt groggy on Tuesday but there was no time to feel sorry for myself seven weeks before a big fight. Up for a mid-morning run and then sparring at Earlsfield in the evening. Luckily it was only a 24 hour bug.

The next day I had a media shoot with my cousin Lee Cook who plays for QPR. The shoot was to promote my forthcoming fight against George Groves at the O2 arena on Saturday May 21st and for QPR hopefully going up to the Premier League. For tickets go to: www.jamesdegale.com. My grandad supported QPR and my Mum used to go and watch them play when she was younger. Lee was kicking a ball around since he could walk and his grandad's dream was for him to play for QPR. Uncle Tom says he is the one we both get our skills from as he was a good footballer and boxer. My grandad’s not here to confirm whether it is true or whether Uncle Tom is singing his own praises! Then it was off to the gym for another gruelling training session. The day ended with a nice evening out with family for my aunt’s birthday dinner at an Italian restaurant in Finchley.

I woke up the next day to a call from a friend who told me about a video that had been placed on YouTube showing me doing interviews. It turns out that someone had a bit too much time on their hands and had compiled a few clips from my interviews and edited it to make me look stupid. The thing is, it didn’t annoy me - in fact it made me laugh, it's hilarious. Some people have far too much time on their hands - just imagine if they actually put their skills to good use instead of trying to humiliate people ... they could have made a name for themselves. Then off to a physio session for my knee. The sessions are really helping as my running times are getting back to normal. I also had a session of acupuncture on it, which was a weird experience. Throughout the week I also had various media and radio interviews. Frank Warren's media team came to the gym to film my training. It is important to take time out to do these things before a big fight. People want hear what I have to say, and see how my training is going. I enjoy doing this kind of stuff, it has to be filmed a few weeks out from the fight because I like to get my head down closer to the fight and not have distractions of interviews - just focus on winning.

I also had a photo shoot for a magazine called 'Spashion' which is sports personalities strutting their stuff. After a hard week’s training, I so look forward to my recovery day. I always like to start a recovery day with a nice lie in. I didn’t stay in bed too long though because the weather was gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky. In fact London was hotter than both Spain and Greece - I love a British summer and if we had more days like this I would holiday at home. I have really fond memories of childhood holidays in Cornwall, beautiful scenery and beaches. However I still love going abroad on holiday and will be jetting off to Marbella once I’ve won my fight on May 21st!!! On Saturday afternoon I had to leave the sunshine and head to Westfield, because my summer wardrobe needed a few bits adding to it, not that I ever need an excuse to shop.

Nathan Cleverley (above) came down for a training and sparring week. Nathan is fighting for a World Title on the same bill as me. Over the week we had 32 rounds of hard, competitive sparring. Training also consisted of daily groundwork and four runs. Lots of media at gym filming and interviewing (SKY, FW Promotions, dailies, etc.) All good promotion for the fight which is being compared to Eubank and Benn. I have heard that a video of George Groves had been put on YouTube, because somebody had decided to take the mikey out of him....like they did to me. Gutted I didn't get the chance to see it because it was taken off the site apparently because of copyright issues????? Whatever !!!!! I heard it was funny! Poor George, so sensitive!

There have been more media interviews too - LOCOG asked me if I would help promote the sale of Olympic tickets. So I did a couple of Interviews with Eurosport and Daily Mail. Remember there is not long left to buy Olympic tickets. Go to www.ticketslondon2012.com By the end of the week I felt like a wounded soldier, as I ached from head to toe. To top it all got an infection in my big toe so had to go to A & E. I felt so rough and put it down to the heavy workload this week, but the doctor told me it was because I had an infection which makes you feel like this. After that I went home, had a nice ruby murray, watched "The Only Way is Essex" and early to bed to prepare for an early morning run and another week at the gym!

Life as an athlete can be so exciting and other times you just have to get your head down and put in the hard work. This week feels like one of those weeks. I feel like all I have done is trained, eaten and slept, mainly because that’s what I have done. I get invited to go to lots of events however most of the time I have to turn them down. Not because I don’t want to go, but because I have to put my training and rest before anything else in life. I'm not looking for sympathy by the way. I love my life and wouldn’t change it for the world. And when I’m standing in that ring with the title belt around my waist, every painful training session disappears out of my memory. The gym where I train is a bit of a trek to get to. I live in north-west London and my gym is in Essex. It’s a round trip of 50 miles per day, but when you drive it every day it does get a bit tedious.

So on Tuesday my trainer Jim came over to my house and we trained at our local gym Hooks. After the session we both chilled out at my place. After a couple of hours, we got back in the car and drove over to Earlsfield Amateur Gym for an evening sparring session. I dragged myself home and fell straight into bed. I woke up on Wednesday and the sun was shining. Apparently it was the hottest day of the year. On days like this I want to be outdoors all day, but I had a training session to do in the gym. This time my session was over in Loughton. Luckily I was not stuck in the gym all day. I sometimes wonder how the rest of the world cope working indoors all day when the sun is shining. I was pretty tired in the evening though, so I was glad I had planned to put my feet up and watch Prizefighter on Sky Sports. This time round it was the Super-Middleweight division, which is the weight I fight at. Once again it was good entertainment with one of the underdogs winning again. Rocky Fielding was a late replacement and only had five days notice. He was impressive. I've known Rocky Fielding since the amateurs and he’s a good fighter. I must say a big WELL DONE to Jahmaine Smyle who had recently helped me with sparring. He lost in a close semi-final bout, but showed lots of heart and potential.

Thursday was a rest day. Sometimes as an athlete you feel guilty for not training every day. However you have to learn that your body has to recover for the next training session to be productive. Many athletes over the years have thought that more training means better results. However there is that fine line, if you do too much your body starts getting injured, or you get ill or you can also just become stale and unmotivated. It’s really important that Jim and I talk about what training I’m doing and when. In the evening a group of us went out to the Harvester for dinner. My last experience of a Harvester was pretty disastrous but the food was good this time. I’d recommend a visit if you are watching your weight as it tells you the calories there are in all the food.

It was more training for me on Friday morning. Luckily Jim came over to my house to train there. A quick shower then I was back in the car driving with my family to the University of West London awards ceremony. Now don’t panic, I haven’t gone and got myself a degree. When I returned from the Olympics they invited me in to show my gold medal to some of the first year students. Since then the staff and students have followed my professional career. The manager approached my Dad about me sponsoring an award, so I went to the Awards Ceremony to hand out the "James DeGale Award". My award was for the student that everyone thought would fail, but proved everyone wrong. I donated a goody bag with signed gloves, t-shirt, etc and two tickets for my next fight. This award will be given every year to the underachiever who achieves. I loved giving out this award because it’s so easy to label people early on in life and give them no hope of achieving things. It puts a smile on my face when I see people who are not naturally academically gifted achieve success. These people have real hunger in their belief to overcome obstacles. I wasn’t a brain box at school, but I didn’t let that stop me. I just channeled all my energies into boxing. But after that, there was no rest for the wicked, because when we got back, we went to Hooks for another training session! Have a great week!