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Amateur star Luke Campbell makes his professional debut tonight on an action packed Matchroom boxing show at Craven Park stadium in Hull. It looks to be a busy night as Kell Brook, Lee Selby, and Derry Mathews are also on the card.
Campbell, who if you didn’t know him from the Olympic games, won the Gold medal at Bantamweight, he also held numerous amateur titles from winning the 2007 ABA championship and the 2008 European championship.
A neat little southpaw, classic well-schooled amateur, in and out, stick and move, keep it tidy, you can see why he did well; he’s talented.
It’s always a fascination to see a debut, as the last few months he will have been training like a pro and doing things that he’s not used to. Some, like Amir Khan, make it to be a huge crossover star, that success, however, is rare.
Just look at the careers of other recent Olympic stars in this country: Tony Jeffries, 2008 Bronze Light Heavyweight winner, turned pro, went 9-0-1 and then retired. David Price has recently had his career in the balance with struggling to get past his now nemesis, Tony Thompson.
James De Gale has done well, but for a Gold medal winner he has hardly set the world alight.
And of course…Audley Harrison!
We won’t be able to tell what kind of fighter Campbell will be, or what his future holds, all from this six round contest, against 2-5-0 Andrew Harris, it’s great to see another story unfold in the theatre that is boxing.
Kell Brook is looking to come back from a disappointing six months where he was supposed to fight IBF Champion Devon Alexander, but had to step aside, due to injury, and let welterweight rival Lee Purdy, fight in his place.
This is Brook’s first fight since the injury and it is against the man who gave him his hardest night’s work to date. Carson Jones took him the distance and gave him trouble back in July last year.
Kell needs to look good here, he needs to impress. Jones can be a tough customer but Brook is a far better technician. Brook needs to be beat him in a more emphatic measure if he is to progress to world levels and shine like we know he can.
Lee Selby goes for the WBC International Featherweight title against Viorel Simion. Simion stands at 16-0-0 but that is a relatively padded record and he doesn’t have a great deal of bang, his KO ratio is 43%.
He is not a bad little fighter but Selby looks really good, has a better record and although his KO ratio is even lower, at 37%, stopping the very tough and durable John Simpson is no easy feat and the way he knocked out Stephen Smith speaks volumes. Expect a good scrap as Selby is an exciting fighter.
Derry Mathews squares off against live-wire Tommy Coyle, 16-1-0, for the vacant Commonwealth title. Mathews, on paper at least, looks like he has too much experience for Coyle. The only talent Coyle has ever come up against is former British super featherweight champion Gary Sykes, whom he lost to over three rounds.
Mathews 32-8-2, it is fair to say, has been around the domestic block for a while, if Coyle does well then look to see him step up and go on to bigger and better things as Mathews is a good measure of how far a fighter can go.
Mathews is a good gatekeeper, and fighters like that are essential for the sport. This could be another fiery one.
