James DeGale defeats Andre Dirrell

James DeGale won the vacant IBF super middleweight title by defeating Andre Dirrell by unanimous decision Saturday afternoon on the PBC on NBC in Boston, MA. DeGale improved to 21-1, 14 KO's with the victory. Dirrell fell to 24-2, 16 KO's.

DeGale came out strong landing a huge overland left in the second round that dropped Dirrell and had him hut. Dirrell fell again as he struggled to recover but was saved the the bell at the end of the second. Dirrell kept his composure in round three, and was able to keep DeGale away, who spent most of the fight searching for the knockout punch. Dirrell was starting to come back on the scorecards stealing round after round by controlling the pace of the fight with his jab while landing clean shots on DeGale. The last two rounds though, DeGale came out firing perhaps aware that he was giving away the fight. Scores were 114-112, 114-112, and 117-109 all in favor of DeGale.