By Chris Woodside
Olympic gold medallist Luke “Coolhand” Campbell is returning to the ring against tough opponent Jairo Lopez on the undercard of McDonnell vs Vargas.
The fight will take place on February 25 in Hull Arena and itwill be Campbell’s first in his hometown since defeating local rival Tommy Coyle at Craven Park in August 2015.
After that bout he was well and truly on his way to becoming a world champion. But his career took a minor setback after a narrow points defeat to Yven Mendy back in December 2015 on the undercard of Joshua vs Whyte at the 02 Arena in London.
Since then the Hull fighter has his career back on track with three victories in 2016, winning the vacant WBC silver lightweight and Commonwealth lightweight titles. Most noticeable was his scintillating performance over Derry Matthews, downing the Liverpudlian in the fourth round to keep hold of his belts.
The East Yorkshireman is hoping that victory on Saturday will propel his career and get him a world title shot by the end of the year. He wants to prove that he can fight with the best and is good enough to battle with giants of the division.
The fighter has been expressing his views on Twitter, suggesting that he is ready and hungry for victory more than ever.
IT’S FIGHT WEEK!
HAD A GREAT CAMP CAN’T WAIT TO GET IN THAT RING NOW!
last chance to order tickets online https://t.co/f404ryTCUj pic.twitter.com/t02Cx4CBh7— Luke Campbell MBE (@luke11campbell) February 20, 2017
If he wins he will be looking to opponents such as Manchester rival Terry Flanagan and this would set up a great British rivalry.
There has also been talk of Campbell welcoming Mikey Garcia junior to the UK after the American impressively overcame Dejan Zlatičanin in the third round of their world title fight on the undercard of Frampton vs Santa Cruz in Vegas.