Saturday night in Hull sees perhaps the highest profile fight of London 2012 Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell’s fledgling professional career.
Arguably the most talented young fighter in the country, “Cool Hand” (11-0, 9ko) goes into battle against fellow Hull native and former friend Tommy Coyle (21-2, 10ko) in an official WBC lightweight eliminator that most can only see going emphatically the way of the former amateur standout.
It’s already being billed as a huge domestic clash that will serve as an official eliminator for WBC champion Jorge Linares’ 135 lb title – and after leaking online earlier in the week, promoter Eddie Hearn this morning dropped the news that London 2012 gold medalist Luke Campbell and hometown rival Tommy Coyle, will indeed headline Matchroom’s “Rumble On The Humber” card from Hull’s Craven Park – with ample support coming in the form of Scotland’s Ricky Burns – (who put in a heroic shift vs Omar Figueroa Jr in Texas recently, when he fights a TBA opponent.)
Carl Froch has vacated the IBF Super Middleweight title as he recovers from the injury that ruled him out of a clash with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
The four-time World champion will now consider his future before potentially defending his WBA Super Middleweight title this summer.
Mandatory challenger James DeGale MBE will now fight the next available contender for the vacant title, and the IBF will instruct Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Sport as to who that will be and negotiations will commence immediately.
In a night of personal best’s Gavin McDonnell was in no mood to miss out on the fun, outpointing Vusi Malinga in a display of will, determination and no shortage of skill to the delight of the Humberside crowd.
The fight was officially stopped at 1:33 of the round. Katsidis stopped staggered and looked like he was ready to continue fighting, but McDonnell wasn’t going to let him continue. The shot that Coyle threw wasn’t a really big punch. It was just a case of Katsidis not having his guard up, and him not being ready for the punch.
Tommy Coyle v Michael Katsidis (12 x 3 – IBF International Lightweight Belt)
Tommy Coyle now 19-2 (8KO’s) is thrust into the biggest test of his career, on paper at least, against the Australian banger Michael Katsidis 30-6 (24KO’s) for the IBF International Lightweight title. Both fighters find themselves at a crucial stage in their careers where a defeat would be fatal to any aspirations they have of continuing to top the bill on shows such as this.
On paper the evening looked promising with a few intriguing match-ups but nobody could possibly have been expecting the drama and excitement that ran through pretty much the whole of the four hour broadcast.
There is one fighter who featured on the bill whom I want to pay particular attention to but first I will briefly run through the evening’s action.
The first bout was a contest for the British super-bantamweight title, vacated by Kid Galahad as he seeks European honours, between Gavin McDonnell and Leigh Wood. Alongside such boxers as Kell Brook and Kid Galahad, real name Abdul Barry Awad, Wood fights out of the Ingle Gym and exhibits the slippery and awkward style that the gym is famed for.
Over the following three Saturdays five of Britain’s leading top prospects will be live in action up and down the country. All five, three of which gained medals at the London 2012 Olympics, have not only the talent to become world champion but could potentially go on to one day be great, legendary even.
Britain is currently a melting pot rich with young, brilliant talent but what can this recent sprout of success be credited to? Surely the funding now available to young amateur boxers plays a significant part, which has vigorously developed since Audley Harrison became the first British fighter to win an Olympic gold medal in the super-heavyweight division in the 2000 Sydney Games and, four years later in Athens, Amir Khan taking home a silver medal in the light-weight division. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics Britain had another gold medallist in James DeGale, further strengthening the position of our young amateur fighters.