DEGALE MISSES ON BLOW-OUT.

Byline: Tom Hopkinson

JAMES DEGALE reckons his performance against Lucian Bute last month was right up there alongside the best of his career.

But the 29-year-old supermiddleweight didn't exactly celebrate the first defence of his IBF belt in style ... because the bar in his Quebec hotel was closed by the time he and his team got back after the fight.

DeGale said: "It was up there in terms of my best performance.

"Andre Dirrell rivals it, the Brandon Gonzales fight was good and Marco Antonio Periban was all right.

"My last four fights have good b his been good, but Bute was good because I went to his backyard, where there were 10,000 people chanting 'Bute, Bute, Bute'.

"Like Eddie Hearn says, I'm a buzz fighter.

"I like the crowds and I dealt with the pressure and boxed well. It was a good performance, definitely." But, despite pocketing PS1.5million for the Bute fight, there was no lavish party for the Londoner.

It was just a trip to the nearest McDonald's, with his trainer Jim McDonnell and adviser Ambrose Mendy, to buy a few sacks of food for family and friends before everyone retired to bed.