James DeGale over George Groves points defeat
Last updated on .From the section Boxing
James DeGale maintains a controversial points defeat against bitter rival George Groves is "totally out" of his system as he aims to become European super-middleweight champion next month.
DeGale suffered a potentially damaging first professional loss when he slipped to a disputed defeat to Groves in May.
However, his manager Frank Warren secured DeGale, 25, a shot at Poland's Piotr Wilczewski on 15 October.
"I'm totally focused on becoming European champion," DeGale said.
"In the last fight I didn't box to my best. A lot of people thought I'd won, I thought I'd won, but it doesn't matter now.
"I think I'm the better fighter so I'm back big. I get a good world ranking if I win it and everything's still on to become world champion before the next Olympics."
DeGale faces a tough test against the experienced Pole, ranked two in the world by the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) and with just one defeat from his 30 fights.
"It's against a guy who will come to fight. He is tough but technically good as well. This will be by far the toughest fight of my career but the Groves fight is totally out of my system," added DeGale.
DeGale will fight on the undercard of Nathan Cleverly's WBO light-heavyweight title defence against local favourite Tony Bellew.
Promoter Frank Warren still believes DeGale is a credible threat for the European belt. He said: "If he wins this European title - which I believe he will - then I want him to fight again before the end of the year.
"That wouldn't have been possible if we had waited until the end of October to have this fight."
