England is proud of its boxing tradition and the many great fighters it has produced. But the matchmaking practices used to build its most recent stars has unleashed an epidemic of failure. They begin their journeys as good fighters, but the publicity machine races ahead, trying to build their reputation as their skills are wasted on the hopeless procession of European journeymen fed to them. In the last few years, several of Britain's outstanding Olympians have had this misguided strategy visited upon their professional careers. Having just achieved Olympic middleweight gold, Briton James DeGale ought to weigh his career options with care, especially having witnessed what happened to Amir Khan last night.
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