“Cool Hand” Luke Campbell - Highlights

“Cool Hand” Luke Campbell is a 32 year old Lightweight boxer from Hull, England who stands at 5ft 9in tall. He is considered as one of the most highly skilled boxers in Britain despite not winning a world title yet having failed by decision in two world title attempts. Campbell currently has a record of 20-3 (16).

Campbell began making waves in boxing in 2008 when ye won the European Gold Medal at Bantamweight. He then went on to notably defeat current world champion, Rey Vargas in the 2009 World Championships but then lost in his next bout. In 2011 Campbell won a silver medal in the World Championships, setting him up to medal in the 2012 Olympics. Not only did Campbell medal but he won the gold at 56kg. Campbell was set to be the future British boxing.

Campbell turned professional in 2013 aged 25. He knocked out Andy Harris in one round. Having won his first 11 fights (9 by knockout) Campbell challenged fellow Hull native, Tommy Coyle for the vacant WBC International Lightweight title. The two traded words before the fight but Campbell was the one who prevailed, dropping Coyle in the second round and stopping him in the tenth to win his first professional title. Campbell took on tough Frenchman, Yvan Mendy in his next fight on the Joshua-Whyte undercard to defend his international title. Shockingly Campbell lost via split decision having been sent to the canvas in the fifth. Campbell came back in his next bout when he destroyed Gary Sykes to win the vacant Commonwealth Lightweight title. He then went on to win the WBC Silver Title defeating former world champion Argenis Mendez. Campbell defended his titles twice before stopping Colombia’s Darleys Perez in a WBA Lightweight World Title Eliminator.

Campbell earned his shot against a prime 3-weight champion, Jorge Linares who was arguably top 10 pound for pound at the time. The fight would be fought in the USA for the WBA, WBC Diamond and The Ring Magazine World Lightweight titles. Despite the unfortunate death of Luke Campbell’s dad two weeks prior the bout, Campbell courageously went on to fight. The Venezuelan started strong dominating the first and knocking Campbell down in the second. The fight was extremely close throughout, Campbell boxing very well for the majority of the fight after the second round. Campbell’s camp thought he done enough to get the win but Linares won by a controversial split decision. In 2018 Campbell got revenge against Yvan Mendy, winning unanimously. The win made Campbell the WBC Mandatory. Through this, he earned another world title shot against none other than the pound for pound number one fighter in the world, Vasyl Lomachenko. The fight was for the vacant WBC, WBA (Super), WBO and The Ring Magazine Lightweight titles. Most completely wrote Campbell off but the Brit held his own against the Ukrainian, arguably winning a decent proportion of the fight. Lomachenko became strong later in the fight, knocking Campbell down in the 11th. Lomachenko won via unanimous decision. Campbell is set to fight for another world title some time in 2020.