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DeGale wants world title after Groves

James DeGale and George Groves put their unbeaten records and titles on the line on May 21 © PA Photos

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James DeGale is predicting that his performance against George Groves will catapult him into the world title picture by the end of this year.

DeGale, who takes on Groves for the British and Commonwealth super-middleweight titles on May 21, previously suggested that 2012 is a more realistic target for a tilt at one of the sport's most prestigious crowns.

"The future is bright for me," he said. "When I turned professional I said the plan for me was to become a world champion by the end of 2012 but with the rate that I'm going at right now it could be by the end of 2011."

The rivalry between DeGale and Groves has been characterised by the vicious flurry of words being hurled back and forth between the two camps, earning comparisons with the notorious grudge match between Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank in 1990.

The animosity has its roots in the early stages of both fighters' careers - Groves earned a points decision over DeGale when both were amateurs, causing the latter's promising career to take a step backwards. He recovered in some style, clinching Olympic gold against the odds in 2008, but the scars still remain.

"I can't see me and ugly kid making up. After I knock him out I might shake his hand but after that I don't even want to hear that boy's name again," DeGale said.

"This ain't acting. We genuinely don't like each other. The rivalry goes back years. He has lived half his life in my shadow.

"It's not messing around. In domestic fights people usually build it up as a grudge match but this is genuine. The background from when he beat me in the ABAs to when we were both trying to win a domestic title first as professionals... It's Benn v Eubank number two."

This is the second successive clash in which DeGale has got under the skin of his opponent - Paul Smith refused to touch gloves with him when they met for the British title last December - and it seems that he isn't going to change his inflammatory strategy.

"It won't affect my performance against him," he said. "This is fun to me. All the stuff at the press conference, me bantering him and winding him up is all fun. I'll keep calling him ugly kid because that's what he is to me. He is ugly and he is a kid. It's a fact. It's reality.

"At the end of the day it will be just me and him in the ring."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.