James DeGale Dedicates Fight to Memory of Darren Sutherland

England's James DeGale has paid tribute to Ireland's Darren Sutherland and will dedicate his next fight to the Dubliner, a bronze medal winner at the 2008 Olympics, who took his own life in Bromley, South London last month.

DeGale, who claimed middleweight gold at the Beijing Olympics, and Sutherland met six times in the amateur ranks, DeGale winning two of those encounters including the 2008 Olympic 75 kg semi final.

The Englishman will have "RIP Darren" embroidered on his trunks for his next fight against Ally Morrison in Liverpool on October 30th.  He said that Sutherland played a huge part in his Olympic success story.

Me and Darren had a competitive but friendly rivalry, we both had respect for each other. He beat me four times. I beat him twice and we both knew how good the other was. One day me and him were always going to box for a title, probably the world, he said.

With Darren we never said anything bad about each other, even though we were very different people. It's a sad, sad loss, not only for Irish boxing, but for British and world boxing because he was guaranteed to go on to big things.

It's just so upsetting. When I found out my heart dropped right to the floor. I don't know what it happened because he always seemed so happy; he was a clever, intelligent boy who had everything in front of him. It just goes to show that you don't know what is in people's heads.

I will be dedicating my next fight to him. I've got a little something, RIP Darren on my shorts, like a couple of other fighters have done. He was such a big part of my Olympic journey because I knew if I could get past him in that semi final, I would get gold.

DeGale and Sutherland switched codes and turned professional pro after the Beijing Olympics, DeGale singing with Frank Warren and Sutherland signing with Frank Maloney.