JAMES DEGALE will consider retirement after losing his grudge match with Chris Eubank Jr at The O2 Arena in London.

The Olympic gold medallist and former IBF super-middleweight champion demonstrated further signs of decline as he lost for the third time as a professional, and against an opponent he would have expected to convincingly outbox at his peak.

For all that the 29-year-old Eubank Jr has improved, perhaps partly owing to recruiting the previously little-known Nate Vasquez as his trainer, DeGale again struggled to convince throughout a fight he had previously said would leave the loser with little choice but to retire.