"Luke Campbell is not just fighting for WBC, WBA, WBO, Ring Magazine world titles, he's fighting for the pound-for-pound No 1 position. If you're going to gamble, gamble big," says Eddie Hearn
Thursday 25 July 2019 07:15, UK
Luke Campbell can stake his claim to being the No 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world if he defeats the 'best of the best' Vasiliy Lomachenko, believes Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn.
Campbell challenges Lomachenko for the WBA, WBO and Ring Magazine lightweight titles, while the vacant WBC belt will also be up for grabs when they clash at The O2 in London on August 31, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Hearn says bringing the three-weight world champion to the UK is great for British boxing but also for Campbell because he feels the 31-year-old can defeat his fellow Olympic champion on home soil.
"He is the best of the best right now," Hearn said to Sky Sports about the Ukrainian great.
"We talk about the fighters that we've brought to the UK for major fights - Terrence Crawford, Errol Spence, Gennady Golovkin, [Oleksandr] Usyk as well, [Jorge] Linares, all great fighters.
"All those great fighters have been arguably pound-for-pound No 1 at the time. I think this guy is pound-for-pound No 1 and most people acknowledge that, so it's great.
"It's great for British boxing, it's great for fight fans but he's here so Luke Campbell can beat him. That's why we brought him here, if Luke just cared about the money in this fight, the fight would have taken place in America.
"We feel as a team that Luke Campbell has a good chance to beat him on home soil. We know it's going to be difficult, we know Lomachenko is a genius, but they're both very, very good technical fighters.
"They've grown up together around the amateur code since 2003, the European Championships, obviously both won gold in London [2012] as well, so we know the task ahead, but Luke Campbell is in the shape of his career right now, he's in the prime of his career to try and take advantage of this opportunity.
"Luke Campbell is not just fighting for WBC, WBA, WBO, Ring Magazine world titles, he's fighting for the pound-for-pound No 1 position. If you're going to gamble, gamble big.
"He's not expected to necessarily beat Lomachenko. I think everyone is giving him a good shot and saying 'I think he'll give a good account of himself' but there's not many that deep down truly believe he can win.
"We do as a team, but is that because we're a team? I don't know but when you look at the attributes of Campbell and the skill of Campbell, you've got to give him a shot in this fight, and the size of Campbell, and the way he's punching with Shane McGuigan, but as we saw against Anthony Crolla, Lomachenko is on a whole another level."
