Luke Campbell to fight for vacate WBC lightweight title

[Ruthless-RKO]

According to a report at ESPN.com.mx, Mikey Garcia is set to vacate his WBC lightweight title and be named “champion emeritus” by the sanctioning body, as he looks to move down to 140 pounds after his failed attempt to fight at 147 against Errol Spence Jr in March.

As for what this means for the WBC lightweight title right now, it means that we’ll see mandatory challenger Luke Campbell (20-2, 16 KO) get his shot to fight for the vacant belt this summer.

As of the April 2019 WBC ratings, Campbell is No. 1. The rest of the top five is:

* Zaur Abdullaev (11-0, 7 KO), a 25-year-old Russian, at No. 2. Abdullaev currently holds the WBC “silver” title, which he won by beating Deiner Berrio in April 2018, and defended last September against Hank Lundy.

* No. 3 is Devin Haney (21-0, 13 KO), a 20-year-old American who has featured several times on ShoBox, including what he hoped to be his last ShoBox outing on Jan. 11, a win over Xolisani Ndongeni. He has the WBC “international” title. Last we heard from Haney, he was taking meetings with Eddie Hearn in March. Campbell is promoted by Hearn.

* Teofimo Lopez (13-0, 11 KO) is No. 4, and you all know Teofimo by now. He just knocked out former European champion Edis Tatli on the Crawford-Khan undercard. He’s a bright young star at 21, a major part of Top Rank’s future plans. He’s expressed interest in facing Vasiliy Lomachenko right now, but also expressed concern that he’ll be able to keep making 135 pounds any later than the end of this year.

* Javier Fortuna (34-2-1, 23 KO) is No. 5. The 29-year-old Dominican is a former titleholder at 130, and was to challenge Robert Easter Jr for the IBF lightweight title in Jan. 2018, but missed weight and then lost a split decision. He won his last outing on Feb. 9, beating Sharif Bogere over 10 rounds.

So most likely it’s going to be Campbell against one of those guys, unless perhaps the WBC approves Campbell facing WBA and WBO titleholder Vasiliy Lomachenko, who is on a quest to fully unify at 135. Their target at the moment is the new IBF titleholder Richard Commey, but nobody in boxing who has any power is above sweet-talking or being sweet-talked, and there’s surely a way Lomachenko could edge in there to face Luke Campbell for the vacant belt if Top Rank and the WBC were to really want that right now. I’m not saying they would — Loma could just as easily fight Commey and then face the Campbell-TBA winner for the WBC belt in a full unification later — but it’s not impossible.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Lopez might go higher after his Tatli. The rankings haven't taken that into consideration.

[milpool]

An outdoor fight in Hull, please!

[Ruthless-RKO]

An outdoor fight in Hull, please!

You gonna go?

[stujones]

Tough prospects, good fights if its one of those.

Campbell recently be talking like he is some kind of star in the division, e.g. a level above Crolla, I aint seen the evidence of that yet. Both lost to Linares in competitive fights (fight 1 for Crolla).

I know Crolla beat a poor champion in gaining his version of the world title - it doesn't look like Campbell will do the same, so much respect if he can do it.

[keirw]

Tough prospects, good fights if its one of those.

Campbell recently be talking like he is some kind of star in the division, e.g. a level above Crolla, I aint seen the evidence of that yet. Both lost to Linares in competitive fights (fight 1 for Crolla).

I know Crolla beat a poor champion in gaining his version of the world title - it doesn't look like Campbell will do the same, so much respect if he can do it.

Indeed, there is no easy route for Campbell here. Which is a good thing of course, winning a world title should be difficult.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Indeed, there is no easy route for Campbell here. Which is a good thing of course, winning a world title should be difficult.

Definately.

Crolla, as much as I liek him, would never have been a world champion had there only been one champion per division.

[gilgamesh]

Definately.

Crolla, as much as I liek him, would never have been a world champion had there only been one champion per division.

That goes for a lot of guys in the modern era. Hell some guys are 2 or 3 times titleholders, and they never have been legitimately Top 5 in their weight class at any point.

[PredatorHayds]

I don’t fancy him to beat López.

I’d make him a slight under-dog against Haney.

I’d favour him against the other two.

Hopefully he gets the belt before he fights one of the names.
Decent payday for being champ defending against Teofimo on a big Top-Rank undercard.

Haney self-promotes so anyone’s guess where that would end up. I’d guess a DAZN/Sky show.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Haney self-promotes so anyone’s guess where that would end up. I’d guess a DAZN/Sky show.

He's close to signing with Matchroom USA.

[milpool]

You gonna go?

Yep!

[Ruthless-RKO]

Hearn has said Haney vs. Campbell for vacant belt is possible..
-----------------------

Enter: Abdullaev Promoter: We Plan To Fight Luke Campbell For WBC Title

Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing already promotes the top-rated contender in Campbell. Its USA arm has recently signed unbeaten Devin Haney, who is ranked number three by the WBC and with his Matchroom debut to come May 25 live on DAZN versus Antonio Moran.

It makes sense that, with a win Haney could next face Campbell in a fight that would be easy to make since both are with Hearn, right?

Not if you ask Zaur Abdullaev, the unbeaten lightweight from Russia who is ranked directly in between the two and very much plans on next fighting for the title.

“Yes, we are planning that Zaur will fight Campbell,” German Titov, Abdullaev’s promoter confirmed with BS.com. “We hope that the fight will be for the title.”

The WBC has yet to publicly order a vacant title fight, only recently confirming that Garcia (39-1, 30KOs) has agreed to relinquish the crown in exchange for “Champion Emeritus” status. The distinction gives him the right to directly challenge for the title whenever he chooses that such a fight is in his best interest.

Somewhere along the way surfaced the belief that Abdullaev—a practicing Muslim—would not be available to fight Campbell due to the upcoming holy Ramadan season. Hearn recently suggested in an interview with videographer Rahim Davies that the unbeaten Russian couldn’t fight until at least September as a result.

Not only does the suggestion jump the gun on Abduallev’s own availability, but also doesn’t explain how a Campbell-Haney fight could take place anytime before then. Haney is currently signed to fight on May 25 versus Moran, whose handlers have confirmed a signed contract in place and—to date—no indication of the fight being canceled.

Of course, anything can happen in boxing. What’s not going to happen next, however, is Abdullaev’s team looking into any other option beyond a shot at the WBC lightweight title for his next ring adventure.

“He is ready for the big fights; there is no need for an (interim) bout,” Titov insists. “We (plan) for his next fight to be for the WBC belt. We do not keep in mind any other plans.”

[oogiebe]

Kind of figured this as soon as Haney was signed.

[Ruthless-RKO]

https://www.badlefthook.com/2019/5/3/18 ... -july-27th

According to Eddie Hearn, WBC #1 lightweight Luke Campbell and #3 Devin Haney have reached a deal to fight on July 27th for Mikey Garcia’s former title, pending WBC approval.

The complicating factor here is #2 Zaur Abdullaev, who reportedly intends to face Campbell in his next fight. The issue for him is Ramadan, which runs from May 6th to June 3rd and would complicate his camp. It’s not out of the question, though; UFC welterweight Belal Muhammad has trained, fought, and won while fasting, but that may be a tall ask for a world title shot.

[jamamb]

good fight

[mickey1975]

Love Luke. Total role model in Hull and a seriously underestimated boxer. What he did against Linares was incredible considering what he went through fight week.

[rio]

Really hope they make him fight Loma for the vacant WBC which is what Toprank are pushing for and Hearn is trying to avoid at all costs. Campbell has been in this position for ages but as soon as Garcia got the belt they had no interest in making the fight so they went Linares route and got beat then simply waited to Garcia to vacate.

[Nightmare Roy]

Good luck too him, be tough either way, as it should be for the WBC belt, it ain’t a vacant WBO.