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A Closer Look at Luke Campbell

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

I still think he looks younger than my youngest and when he fought long time friend Tommy Coyle, 23-4, 11 KO’s, I was staggered to find out that of the two, he is the elder. The man for whom the phrase “Baby Face2 surely was invented, Luke Campbell 17-1, 14 KO’s, is ready to make his presence felt on a world stage as he is going to face the biggest test of any career as Jorge Linares, 42-3, 27 KO’s, will be in the opposite corner in Inglewood, on September the 23rd.

Campbell has managed to draw in the crowds, not just in his home town of Hull, and the attention from throughout the UK boxing fraternity because of his solid pedigree means we have high hopes. There are many who think he has a very good chance of becoming Britain’s next world champion. When you see what he has achieved you can give those thoughts some credence.

This is a twice ABA Champion, Olympic Gold, European Gold and World Silver medallist who has since joining the professional ranks has been the Commonwealth and WBC silver lightweight champion. He was also the first British Gold medallist at bantamweight since Henry Thomas in 1908. Boxing to Campbell is ingrained and in his blood as his grandfather was an Irish boxing champion. Never likely to shirk a challenge he ended up in the 2012 final of Dancing on Ice – a competitive ice skating show in the UK; bit like Dancing with the Stars on ice skates. He may have finished third in that competition but only the word first is uppermost in his mind now.

In 2013, he was awarded by the Queen the archaic but prestigious Member of the Order of the British Empire Medal for services to boxing. It was the same year in which he turned professional, the year after that Gold Medal Olympic performance in London and alongside Anthony Joshua we were very excited by his professional prospects.

He went through his first few opponents like a hot knife through butter before, in April 2014 he announced he was taking a break. His father, having been diagnosed with cancer, found him wishing to focus on his father and his recovery but he did continue to fight – a further 4 times in 2014!

In August 2015, he went in the ring and won the WBC international lightweight belt by defeating his friend and former training partner Tommy Coyle. Up until this fight our impression of Campbell was of a very amiable young man who was unable to put a foot wrong. In the build up to the fight Coyle took great exception to Campbell calling him an acquaintance rather than a friend and it ended up being more grudge than anything else. Campbell stopped Coyle in the 10th and managed to stop the war of words at the same time.

Campbell looked on the way to world glory and then the unthinkable happened – he got beat. In came the tough Frenchman Yvan Mendy, 32-4-1, 18 KO’s, and dropped Luke for the first time in his career before taking a split decision win that still rankles Campbell to this day; he keeps going on about avenging that defeat.

It was then that Campbell took 3 months off from the fight game and licked that gaping wound. He came back to the ring and took the Commonwealth title with a smashing left hook that dropped tough British compatriot Gary Sykes in the second round. Campbell had announced he was back and how serious he was about that pathway to world glory.

With that win, the pathway became one which had tougher and now, world level opponents on it and now Campbell found himself up against former IBF champion Argenis Mendez, wide points win, former world titlist Derry Mathews, fourth round stoppage, Jairo Lopez, 2nd round stoppage and former WBA lightweight titlist Darleys Perez – a 9th round stoppage.

That Perez fight was a WBA eliminator and earned Campbell a shot at Jorge Linares, and that will all happen now next month.

This represents not only the moment that he has been building up to but also the biggest moment of his career so far. Whilst his promoter, Eddie Hearn has talked in the past of chasing that Mendy rematch, this obliterates all thoughts of chasing that dream. Linares claims to be in the best “moment of his career” and he looked that way when he came in and beat Anthony Crolla, 31-6-3, 13 KO’s, not once but twice.

Nobody underestimates the challenge that Campbell faces, let alone Campbell himself but with British world title holders falling like hay in a harvest, this could be the one time in 2017 that we see a genuine elite level world fighter get to the top of his tree and dominate the division. There are plenty who think Campbell could do that and all he has to do is box his way there on the 23rd September. Linares is no stranger to the UK and is now based in London having beaten Kevin Mitchell in devastating fashion – sending Mitchel eventually into retirement – as well as the double over Crolla.

Linares wanted Campbell because he was the best challenger and that means that WBO title holder Terry Flanagan, 33-0, 13 KO’s, was not on his radar though if Campbell wins he could look to unify in a big domestic clash. As for Linares should he come through he is hoping that the classy Mikey Garcia who is moving up in weight will do him the honour of coming back down again to put it on the line against him. First of course he has Hull’s finest in that wee boy Luke Campbell with the devastating spiteful shots to get past and I think that may be where his ambition ends; British boxing hopes so too.

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