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Vasyl Lomachenko will travel to the UK to stake his belts against former Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell on August 31, 2019, at London’s O2 Arena.
Lomachenko is already the WBO and WBA lightweight title-holder and he will look to add the vacant WBC belt to his collection when he faces England’s Campbell in London. Lomachenko won his second Olympic gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. It was also at those games where Campbell won his gold medal but at another weight division.
Vasyl Lomachenko
Lomachenko needs no introduction. He is arguably the best amateur fighter of all-time with a record of 396-1 with his lone loss avenged twice. He won back to back World Championships and back to back Olympic gold medals before turning professional in 2013. He won his first world title in only his third professional bout which is a record he shares with Saensak Muangsurin of Thailand. He also became a three-division champion in only his 12th professional bout and all but one of his professional fights have been world title fights. Lomachenko was the 2017 BWAA Boxer of the Year winner.
The 31-year old from Ukraine has a record of 13-1 with 10 knockouts. Loma stands 5-7 and has a reach of 65 ½ inches while fighting as a southpaw. He is one of the best technical fighters in the history of the sport. He has speed, power and an excellent defense that makes him nearly unbeatable. He’s climbed three weight divisions in the pro ranks and so far, he isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
Luke Campbell
Luke Campbell was Britain’s Olympic darling in the 2012 Olympics. The boxer from Hull in East Yorkshire, Britain won gold at the 2008 European Games, silver at the 2011 World Championships and gold at the 2012 London Olympics, all at bantamweight level. Since turning pro, Campbell has challenged for the WBA and Ring lightweight titles in 2017 but lost to Jorge Linares. He was also the former Commonwealth and WBC silver bantamweight champion.
The 31-year-old Campbell stands 5-9 and has a reach of 71 inches. He has a record of 20 wins and 2 losses with 16 knockouts and fights out of the southpaw stance. He is an excellent counter puncher who easily recognizes his opponent’s mistakes and pounces on them right away. He can also be an offensive fighter with a high work rate and good punching power. The concern with him is his level of experience because he’s not fought too many big names so far. He lost to Linares in his first world title fight against a legit foe.
Who Wins?
You can disagree with me on this but I think there’s a lot in common between Vasyl Lomachenko and Luke Campbell. Both were great amateurs and both are southpaws. Both have excellent boxing skills and both have very good work rates. They both have a variety of punches and both possess punching power. I think Campbell does have more raw punching power at 135 but I don’t think anybody can use his power to set up an opponent better than Loma.I think that what Campbell does very well, Lomachenko does even better. I think Lomachenko is on another level right now and Campbell can’t be at par with him.
This is a good opportunity for Campbell though, but it’s also asking too much of him to beat the great Lomachenko. But if somehow Campbell does pull off the upset, it will probably be the biggest upset in British boxing history. I’m not just confident that happens. The boxing betting odds are too lopsided to even think about it.
Campbell is less than a year younger than Loma so the age won’t be a factor. Campbell though is big for this weight class and he has the size advantage over Lomachenko and he is most probably the most physically strong opponent that Lomachenko has ever faced. But that won’t mean he would be the toughest opponent. Lomachenko has faced too many bigger foes in his career.
Fighting in the UK won’t also be an issue for Lomachenko. This guy has fought all over the world and dominated the opposition. More importantly, Lomachenko is in his prime and as we said earlier, he seems to be on a different level than the rest of the boxing world right now. So forget about the advantage of fighting at home. Lomachenko will be comfortable fighting anywhere.
This won’t be an easy fight though. I think Campbell will be urged on by the crowd and he will most probably fire from all cylinders after the opening bell. The best chance for Campbell will be to catch Loma early or put the Ukrainian in limbo early. I’m not discounting Campbell taking the early rounds. He has the tools to go off to a fast start. But Lomachenko is a master of adjustments. He should figure Campbell before the middle rounds and start to take over the fight.
It won’t be a walk in the park but this is a case of a good fighter facing a great opponent. I like Campbell’s skillset but I think Loma’s just too good for him and for the rest of the field right now. I’m picking Vasyl Lomachenko to beat Luke Campbell. I think that Loma will stop him in the championship rounds. Prediction: Vasyl Lomachenko
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