James DeGale insists there is no chance of him making up with bitter rival George Groves once he has knocked him out in May's super-middleweight showdown in London.

DeGale is putting his British title on the line to fight Commonwealth champion Groves on the undercard of Nathan Cleverly's world title clash with Jurgen Brahmer at the O2 on May 21.

The pair have shared a long-running rivalry that stretches back to their amateur days at the Dale Youth Boxing Club in west London when Groves out-pointed DeGale in a 2006 bout which still irks DeGale.

DeGale went on to outshine the 23-year-old after the fight, winning gold at the Beijing Olympics and taking the British title off Paul Smith as a professional, before sounding out Groves for a grudge match which was finally set up earlier this month.

Promotion and showmanship usually come hand in hand with boxing, but DeGale insists the animosity between the two is real - and anyone who saw the explosive press conference that launched the fight would find it hard to disagree.

Old friends Audley Harrison and David Haye seemingly kissed and made up despite the verbal jousting that preceded their one-sided bout, but DeGale insists his rivalry with Groves is so strong that it is on a par with the hostile relationship between Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank that accompanied their classic fights in the 1990s.

For that reason, DeGale will not be offering the hand of friendship to Groves if he delivers on his promise to knock him out in May's fight.

"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."