OLYMPIC gold medallist James DeGale insists he will not allow himself to be affected by the ‘idiots’ who booed him on his professional debut .

The 23-year-old beat Georgian Vepkhia Tchilaia on points over four rounds in Birmingham on the same bill as fellow debutants Frankie Gavin and Billy Joe Saunders.

While his two former amateur team-mates were involved in exciting stoppage victories, DeGale took a more measured approach – and was greeted with booing by a section of the National Indoor Arena crowd.

The bill was topped by Martin Rogan’s superb technical knockout of Matt Skelton to take the Commonwealth heavyweight crown, but Londoner DeGale grabbed the headlines and admits he may have witnessed for the first time the downside of the spotlight he has been under since winning middleweight gold in Beijing.

He said: “There are some idiots out there. I thought I boxed all right. I went out there just to win. But it will all come. I’ve got through bigger challenges than that. It was nothing, trust me.”

The outspoken super-middleweight added: “It’s a learning curve, firstly, but I think I could have opened up a bit more.

“But I’ve been an amateur since I was 10 – so for 13 years – and I’ve been a professional for eight weeks.

“I was a little bit disappointed about the booing at the end. But it takes two to tango in a fight and if he’s throwing nothing back, it’s very hard.

“There’s so much more from me to come.”