JAMES DeGale has laughed off old rival George Groves’ recent verbal volley, claiming his former amateur teammate is ‘‘living in my shadow’’.

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

In their only fight, 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 threefight professional record this year.

Groves – who has had six fights since last December, winning all of them and five by stoppage – 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.’’ DeGale, however, has shrugged off the criticism.

Asked about Groves’ comments, the 23-year-old said: ‘‘Who?

“Oh, that little ugly kid? Noone 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.’’