Luke Campbell hopes Mikey Garcia vacates WBC lightweight title

Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid

Luke Campbell is hoping that Mikey Garcia vacates his WBC lightweight title in time for his rematch against Yvan Mendy (40-4-1, 19 KOs) in their WBC 135 pound title eliminator match next month on September 22 on the Anthony Joshua vs. Alexander Povetkin undercard on Sky Box Office at Wembley Stadium in London, England.

There’s a possibility that the 30-year-old Mikey could wind up facing IBF welterweight champion Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr. later this year or in early 2019. When Garcia moves up to face Spence, he’s expected to give up his WBC lightweight title.

It would be better for Campbell, 30, if Mikey (39-0, 30 KOs) gives up the World Boxing Council lightweight title before his fight against Mendy, 33, on September 22 at Wembley Stadium. If the WBC title is on the line for that fight, there will be a lot more interest from the boxing fans than if the contest is little more than a WBC lightweight title eliminator.

“You never know, if Mikey Garcia vacates early enough, this fight could be made for the full title, which would be amazing,” Campbell said to skysports.com. “I’m obviously not putting all my chips on that, but if there’s a possibility. We’ve just got to see what Mikey Garcia does.”

The winner of the Campbell vs. Mendy II fight is going to have major problems if Mikey decides not to vacate his WBC 135 pound title, because he’s clearly a much better fighter than the two of them. If Mikey decides he wants to stay around the lightweight division long enough to face the winner of the Campbell-Mendy rematch, it’s going to go badly for them. Mikey is on another level than those guys. WBA lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko is arguably the only guy at 135 that has enough talent to beat Mikey at this moment. Mendy and Campbell are more 2nd tier level guys below Mikey, Lomachenko and Linares in my view.

It would be good news for the southpaw Campbell (18-2, 15 KOs) if Mikey gives up his WBC title in the next few weeks in time for his revenge match against Mendy next month September 22. However, that doesn’t mean necessarily that Campbell is going to win the fight against the hard-hitting Mendy. In their fight against each other in 2015, Mendy handled Campbell with relative ease in beating him by a 12 round split decision. The fight was scored a split decision, but it was a clear win for Mendy. He dropped Campbell in round 5, and battered him in the last eight rounds of the contest to get the victory. The one judge that scored the fight for Campbell at 115-113 was John Keane from the UK. Boxing News 24 cored the fight to Mendy by a 115-112 score. He dominated the action. The fight could have been even wider than that in favor of Mendy, because Campbell really fell apart in the second half of the contest. It was just a one-sided fight after the 4th round. Campbell mentally came unglued from the pressure that Mendy was putting on him.

Campbell, 30, won his last fight in beating little known 34-year-old journeyman Troy James (20-6-1, 5 KOs) by a 5th round knockout in a scheduled six-round fight on May 5. This was a confidence booster for Campbell to help him raise his spirits after he was beaten by Jorge Linares in his previous fight. Campbell is obviously a bit old to be needing confidence boosters obviously, but that’s how his promoter Eddie

Hearn wanted to do it. Campbell would have been better off facing a top talent in the lightweight division for him to prove that he can beat a top guy, as most of his wins since he turned pro in 2013 have come at the expense of weak opposition.

Campbell also is hoping for a rematch against former World Boxing Association World lightweight champion Jorge Linares (44-4, 27 KOs). Campbell wants to avenge his 12 round split decision loss to Linares from September 23 last year in Inglewood, California. Campbell and his promoter Eddie Hearn had a hard time accepting the loss to Linares. Campbell thought he had done enough to rate the decision. Unfortunately for Campbell, Linares dominated the first four and last four rounds of the fight. The boxing public had Linares winning eight rounds to four over Campbell. It’s not surprising that Campbell and Hearn thought they had done enough to deserve a victory. It’s not easy for fighters and their promoters to distance themselves from the spectacle and see the fight in real terms. Campbell was knocked down in round two, and he fought horribly in the first and last quarter of the fight. When Linares was trying, he was beating Campbell with ease and making him look bad in there. The only time in which Campbell had success is when Linares took his foot off the throttle in rounds five through eight.

“That would be awesome,” said Campbell. “I would love that, I want that rematch with Linares.”

It would be better for Campbell not to fight a rematch with Linares. That’s a bad style match-up for Campbell. He would be better off sticking with other fighters that haven’t beaten him already, and that includes Mendy. Campbell feels that he has to avenge the loss to Mendy. The reality is he doesn’t have to take this fight. Hearn has deep enough pockets to get him a world title shot without having to earn the title shot. With Hearn and Matchroom Boxing’s deep pockets, he can get Campbell a title shot without him facing a guy that already beat him with ease like Mendy or Linares. Those are risky fights for Campbell that he doesn’t need to take.

Hopefully, the Campbell-Mendy II rematch doesn’t end in controversy on September 22. Visiting fighter Mendy is in a tough spot in facing Campbell in the UK rather than in a neutral venue. The only thing positive about the fight taking place at a huge venue like Wembley Stadium is the fact that the fight will be seen by a lot of boxing fans. If there’s controversy involving the results of the fight, the fans will see it and it won’t be a situation where only a tiny amount of fans saw it. Campbell is going to need to fight a heck of a lot better in the rematch with Mendy if he doesn’t want to come out on the losing end of the stick.