Prospect Luke Campbell Collects MBE At Buckingham Palace

Luke Campbell collected his MBE from The Queen at Buckingham Palace yesterday and invited Her Royal Highness to his debut at MS3 Craven Park in Hull on July 13, live on Sky Sports in ‘The Homecoming’.

Campbell was named in the New Year’s Honours list after winning Gold in the bantamweight final at the London 2012 Olympic Games and the Hull star collected the gong ahead of his pro bow in his home city – and invited Her Majesty to attend.

“It was a magical day and one I will never forget, a real honour,” said Campbell. “The Queen asked me when I was fighting next, so I told her about my debut at Craven Park on July 13 and said she is more than welcome to pop along!”

Campbell is deep in training for his first outing in the paid ranks, and with his sporting success coupled with a stint on hit TV show Dancing On Ice, his promoter Eddie Hearn is predicting the 25 year old will become a superstar as his pro career blossoms.

“Luke is the next big crossover star in sport,” said Hearn. “He has the sort of universal appeal that will garner a massive fanbase which is great for boxing to get new faces involved at all levels.

“The next step for Luke is to establish himself in the pro game, which I have no doubt he will – from then onwards the sky is the limit.”

Campbell will perform an open workout next Saturday in Hull (June 22, details released next week) ahead of a huge night of boxing to close the season on Sky Sports, with Sheffield’s unbeaten welterweight Kell Brook facing American Carson Jones in a rematch, Welsh featherweight sensation Lee Selby tackling unbeaten Romanian Viorel Simion, Derry Mathews and Hull’s Tommy Coyle clashing for the vacant Commonwealth lightweight title and there are outings for English super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding, unbeaten middleweight sensation John Ryder, light welterweight Curtis Woodhouse and local talents Joel Haigh and Zak Collins.