James DeGale won in his recent bare knuckle boxing debut but it may be a one and done effort for him and one of his long running rivals has weighed in on that situation. The rival, with a feud that still persists to this day, George Groves touched on DeGale's foul heavy BKFC debut effort. While DeGale did win at BKFC 81 against Matt Floyd in the main event, the future for the former in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is riddled with question marks.

In an interview with Poker Strategy, Groves articulated how he doesn't feel as if the world of bare knuckle is for James DeGale despite now technically being unbeaten in the sport. As he offered up his thoughts on DeGale's return to competition and how he sees that fighter's future prospects shaking out, Groves said,

Stick to boxing or something else. Bare knuckle fighting is brutal. He told us time and time again that it wasn’t for money. But I've got to be honest, if I did it, it would be for money. I've seen a statement from DeGale’s mum saying that bare knuckle boxing isn’t for James."

"He's talking about hoping to box in MisFits or get a Darren Till or KSI fight, but is your name big enough to get those fights right now? I don’t think anybody would be worried about him from the weekend.

James DeGale intimates what could be next for him in combat sports

James DeGale returned after a six year layoff and the former super middleweight champion is hinting to fans what his next step could be. DeGale's comments in the post-fight in-ring interview seemed to leave the door somewhat open for a potential sophomore trek into bare knuckle. But a later post fight statement put out on DeGale's behalf seemed to be more clear in mentioning bare knuckle as a bit of a thing of the past. But that there was openness to don the glvoes again and return to boxing where DeGale has not competed since 2019.