DeGale: golden boy

Will James DeGale be at London 2012? I don't think so.The problem is when you have four years to defend that medal, anything can go wrong. All you need is to pick up a hand injury or something like that and through no fault of your own, you have wasted four years of your life. And you only have to look at Frankie Gavin to see what else can go wrong.

Glenn McCrory
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An Olympic gold and two bronzes is probably a success for the British team - if only because it's the best we have done for a long, long time.

But I am not going to get overjoyed. Yes it was great to see James DeGale take gold and David Price and Tony Jeffries also did well, but there is an awful lot of work to be done before 2012.

It was a measure of success in Beijing, no more. You have to remember these guys are very well funded and when I look at the likes of Ireland and Mongolia they also picked up medals with way less money at their disposal.

Our amateur boxing really needs to put itself on the map. The London Olympics are going to be amazing - people are already getting excited - and every other sport will be out to break records, win medals and make their mark. And boxing has to do the same.

We should be pooling more resources from the professional game because boxing is one of our major sports and we have to take a look at what cycling and swimming did in what was a fantastic games for Great Britain, and make sure we are even stronger in four years' time.

It was unbelievable to see America pick up just one medal, and Cuba failing to clinch a gold because normally it would be those two nations scrapping it out for the top prize while the rest of the world sat and watched. Instead, Europe now has a stronghold on the amateur scene and British boxing has to make the most of that.

Counting down

At the moment it has put itself in a decent position and British amateur boxing is right there, to either be a huge success or a major disappointment. It can't rest on its laurels because everybody - including the kids in my gym - are already counting down to London.

Will James DeGale be there? I don't think so.

The problem is when you have four years to defend that medal, anything can go wrong. All you need is to pick up a hand injury or something like that and through no fault of your own, you have wasted four years of your life. And you only have to look at Frankie Gavin to see what else can go wrong.

I am not entirely convinced DeGale's style will lend itself to the professional ranks though, because he is a bit of a spoiler. But, he is a pretty good counter-puncher and I did say the one thing I liked about him was his ability to find a way to win - which he did.

I know a lot of fighters had to just work out the scoring system and cut their cloth accordingly and maybe that was what we saw from DeGale. And you have to give him credit for the way he handled the Cuban in that final. Man, he was a nightmare - I just hope Breidis Prescott, who is coming over to fight Amir Khan, is nothing like that!

And DeGale and maybe Price and Jeffries will get the chance to make a name for themselves. I know up here in the north east Jeffries has been all over the papers and telly, so we will probably see a lot more of all three of them - probably not as amateurs either.

If they do turn pro though, I don't think there will be the same clamour as there was for Amir Khan. And that is not necessarily down to any of the fighters.

Standard

Don't forget that in Athens our entire boxing hopes were placed on the shoulders of a little 17-year-old Asian kid from Bolton. He wasn't even allowed to box as a senior here, yet there he was carrying the hopes of a nation, a big boxing nation.

Also, 2004 didn't bring the same success in other sports, so the nation kind of took Amir to its heart and followed him all the way.

DeGale's gold was just one of many in what was a great Games for us and he probably hasn't had the same media attention.

I was also a little disappointed in the standard at these Olympics, although that might well be to do with the scoring. There weren't that many bad decisions overall, but I do think Beijing highlighted some of the problems the sport has in general.

For a start it is supposed to be an entertaining sport, but I didn't see too many good fights to be honest. The reason might well be the scoring system as well but the one thing we did learn was they need to hide the scores.

Even with all the controversy over the scoring system, the decisions tend to work themselves out in the end, but what I hated was everyone knowing the score. It meant that if a lad was five points up going into the final round, he knew all he had to do was run.

Scoring is always going to be subjective, but we need to find out the winner at the end. It looks like they are already going back to three-minute rounds, which is a step in the right direction, but can we please keep some suspense, some drama and some excitement?