by David P. Greisman

Rogelio “Porky” Medina was taking every opportunity he had during the post-fight press conference to needle James DeGale, who had just won by unanimous decision but whom Medina accused of spending more time moving than trading.

That made DeGale respond to those who believed that Medina had given him a tough fight.

“I was making him miss. He was missing. He was swinging. I was showing him levels,” DeGale said. “There’s levels to boxing. Porky Medina is a tough, tough, strong fighter. Let’s be real. I literally made him go on the ropes. How many uppercuts did I hit him with? Uppercuts and screw shots. He’s a very, very strong fighter, but he’s limited. Let’s be real. I was very shocked because I watched his previous fights and the guy ain’t like that.”

DeGale did trade punches with Medina and he did get hit. His face was marked up. He claimed it was a result of an intentional strategy to make for a better fight.

“Just to make it entertaining. I was sitting on the ropes, I was laying, sticking my tongue out, making him miss,” DeGale said. “He’s talking about being a track runner, I could’ve easily made that boring and run and boxed his head off for 12 rounds. I made that exciting for you. That’s what I’m all about. Look at my last five performances.”

DeGale’s past five fights have brought stoppage wins over Brandon Gonzales and Marco Antonio Periban, a unanimous decision over Andre Dirrell to capture a world title, and decision wins in defenses against Lucian Bute and Medina.

“My fanbase is building nicely. I’m in entertaining fights. Always in entertaining fights,” DeGale said. “I can make these fights easier. I’m boxing the best and I’m willing to box the best.

“I could go in there, move my feet just like Floyd for 12 rounds and literally make it boring and picked his head off, and it’d have been easy,” he said later. “I was laying on the ropes, letting him in the fight. That’s fact. Porky Medina is terrible. He’s the worst mandatory challenger I’ve ever seen, and he got battered today.”

He turned to Medina.

“You’ve done well,” Medina said. “You went 12 rounds with a champ.”

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com