Yesterday James DeGale had the smile and swagger that goes with being an Olympic champion, even one who did not get much sleep after a few drinks. It was that swagger that led to DeGale presenting a flower from his medal bouquet to Gabby Logan live on BBC television the night before, which in turn led to a rebuking text message from the woman he describes as his “long-term on-off girlfriend”.

It was not the only message the Olympic middleweight gold medal-winner received. As well as nearly 100 friend requests to his Facebook page in the hours after the bout, there were congratulatory texts from Frank Warren and Mick Hennessy, the professional promoters. After being keen to tie himself down until London 2012 after the bout, his relationship status is not the only thing that DeGale seems undecided about.

DeGale's 16-14 win over Emilio Correa Jr, of Cuba, on Saturday makes him only the fifth Great Britain boxing gold medal-winner since the Second World War and the second since Chris Finnegan won the middleweight title in 1968. By chance, the last one, Audley Harrison, who won super-heavyweight gold in 2000, comes, like DeGale, from Harlesden, an area of northwest London better known for gun crime than sporting excellence.

He had reached the final with four wins of stylish control, but he had to scrap for gold - even being bitten in the first round by Correa.

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Afterwards DeGale had been keen to pledge his future to the amateur code until 2012, as long as Terry Edwards, the Britain head coach, continued and that suitable funding was arranged. But, 24 hours on, he was hedging his bets.

“I'm going to sit down with my mum and dad and speak to Terry because I've promised him I won't do anything until I've spoken to him,” DeGale said. “It's hard to start turning down a million, but if they [the Amateur Boxing Association] come with something sensible and give me some good money that I can get a mortgage and a nice car with and live nice and box and enjoy it, London 2012, that's me.

“The ABA promise everything from kit to bonuses and they don't give anything, but when I get back I should be getting that £20,000 bonus and I'm going to be right on their case about it. If that isn't in my bank account in the next month or whatever, I'd go straight off.

“I didn't do this for the money, I love my country and I've done them proud, but if they want me to stay amateur I need more money. I've been on £1,500 a month since I qualified, before that I was on £1,000 and I'm going up to Sheffield [for training] every week. A year and a half ago I was on £750 a month.”

DeGale certainly has options. At 22, he is at an ideal age to turn professional, but in 2012 he would still be more than two years younger than Harrison was when he won Olympic gold.

Edwards knows the temptations that lie in wait will be similar to what Amir Khan faced after winning a silver medal four years ago. “Straight after Athens, Amir said he was going to go on to Beijing,” Edwards said. “He went back and was offered a huge amount of money and went professional. I don't have that purse. What I have, though, is London 2012 and all these lads here want to go and represent their own country in 2012 and they're prepared to wait for that extraordinary experience.”

Before these Games, though, DeGale seemed like one of the less likely medal-winners. Until he went home having failed to make the weight, Frankie Gavin had been favourite for the lightweight gold - a medal won yesterday by Alexey Tishchenko, of Russia, whom Gavin had easily beaten at last year's World Championships.

“I bet he's jealous,” DeGale said. “I bet he wishes he made the weight now. I know he's watching back home. I've come through the junior ranks with him, so if Frankie said he couldn't make the weight, he couldn't make it. But to be honest he's a silly boy because, you know what, James “Chunky” DeGale's here.

“He could have come here and got a gold medal and been world and Olympic champion. But if you can't lose the last pound, you're in trouble. If the Olympic Games can't motivate you to lose a pound, you're in trouble and Frankie knows it. He needs to sort it out.”