James DeGale has hit back at old rival George Groves’ tough talk claiming his former amateur team mate is “living in my shadow”.

DeGale, an Olympic middleweight gold medallist, and fellow fledgling professional Groves grew up together at the Dale Youth ABC in west London.

The pair have only met in the ring once and it was Groves who emerged victorious with a majority decision en route to glory in the 2006 ABA championships.

However, it was DeGale who catapulted himself into the limelight with his stunning triumph in Beijing last summer before building a three-fight professional record this year.

Groves has been the busier of the two and has fought six times since last December, winning all of them and five by stoppage.

Groves said last week: "We don't see each other now so we don't need to get on, but the things that have been said are true, I will knock him out.

"James went pro and sold himself, irritating a lot of people along the way. He was booed on his debut and that was a good wake-up call for him."

The 23-year-old DeGale, however, shrugged off the criticism: "Who? Oh, that little ugly kid? No one really knows about him, no one cares about him. He's lived in my shadow half his life, what do you expect?

"I saw his last fight (a fourth-round stoppage of Tadas Jonkus) and he was horrendous, leaving his chin up in the air. He's not very good.

"Let him do his stuff and hopefully he will keep on winning. Then, hopefully, I'll give him a chance and I'll knock him out.

"He is just looking for a payday, really. Let him do his stuff and keep running his mouth, because I'm bigger and better than that."