By Ryan Songalia (photo by Tom Casino/Showtime)
At 25 years old, WBO light-welterweight champion Timothy Bradley will take another step towards cementing his championship credentials this Saturday night. So will his challenger, 37-year-old Nate Campbell.
As much as Bradley has to prove in his young career, so too does the older, more experienced veteran. Even though he pulled off the upset in 2008 to wrest three lightweight belts from the then-unbeaten Juan Diaz, the respect and prosperity he had sought as a fighter has still eluded him.
Opportunities to prove that performance was no fluke passed him by when he failed to defend the belts a single time. Over the course of Campbell's 11-month reign, Joan Guzman pulled out of a scheduled bout after failing to make weight, then Campbell himself was unable to make weight himself and was stripped before struggling against unknown mandatory challenger Ali Funeka.
So now the nine-year veteran steps into his third division to challenge another unbeaten, younger champion on his home turf, this time at the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, California. The fight will be promoted by Gary Shaw Productions and televised by Showtime.
"I'm a world class fighter," says Campbell, 33-5-1 (25 KO), of Jacksonville, FL. "World class is world class in any weight. I came from a deep division, bro. And I was the baddest motherf--ker on the planet in that division."
Campbell has made a career of beating the odds, winning fights he's expected to lose and losing fights he's not expected to win. If he hopes to pick up a world title in his second division, he's going to have to hope form holds true.
Bradley, 24-0 (11 KO) of Palm Springs, CA has youth on his side and has fought at 140 pounds his whole career.
He has also grown a great deal from the unlikely champion that went to England to unseat incumbent belt-holder Junior Witter last year to the title-unifying emerging star that outlasted Kendall Holt in his previous fight. Though he was on the canvas in the first and last rounds, he showed much grit in adjusting to the quicker-handed, bigger-punching Holt.
Campbell doesn't see things the same way as writer.
"Kendall Holt gave up the fight. Everyone is like 'He beat Kendall Holt.' I'm like dude, Kendall Holt knocked his head off and decided not to throw punches anymore."
For his part, Holt believes that the younger fighter will come out on top. "Tim Bradley wins. Anyone who beats me has got to be the best.
"Nate Campbell throw a lot of punches to the body and that can potentially cause a problem."
Heading straight into a world title fight in a new division without a tuneup sounds like a recipe for disaster to some. Campbell believes the reason Bradley is making his third defense against him is because his people believe he is on the slide. Campbell, even though he had pulled out a close fight with a spirited Funeka is his last bout, took a great deal of punishment in the process. Campbell maintains his uneven performance had more to do with extreme measures to make weight than age catching up with him.
A win over Campbell would be a major notch in Bradley's increasingly-glamorous belt. It would also mark the beginning of the end for Campbell's Indian Summer, who has won five straight since 2006.
A win for Campbell would go a long way towards bolstering the argument that youth is becoming more and more irrelevant in the sport as fighters like Shane Mosley and Bernard Hopkins continue to excel at a stage in their lives where they'd be expected to be closer to Hall of Fame eligibility than championship caliber.
"He took the fight on the basis that I was done and on the slide, probably. They think I lost a little of who I am when I left 135. It's just their imagination."
"I understand the situation sitting in a sauna for nine hours trying to make weight. He doesn't. Tim Bradley gets pretty big between fights himself, 170-175. We know he can blow up too. My weight got up to 160 pounds, that's the heaviest. When I came back into camp I was already in the 150s."
Both men made weight comfortably on Friday, with Bradley tipping the scales at 139 and Campbell coming in at 138.5.
On paper, Bradley's flawless ledger would give him a clear advantage over Campbell's. However, records - particularly nowadays where television dates are earmarked for unbeaten fighters and a good fighter who has fought top opposition and accrued a few losses is often on the outside looking in - can be deceiving.
Campbell's spotted record tells the tale of a man who has paid his dues the hard way, taking fights in his opponents' hometowns, fighting on short notice, being thrown to the wolves at an early stage. Bradley's suggests he's still growing as a young champion, unacquainted with the heartbreak of hard lessons learned.
Still, as Teddy Atlas would say, an unbeaten fighter has yet to learn how to lose.
"He's gotten those wins because the guys he's fought have been less than technically sound," Campbell says. "I'm a very technically sound guy, I've fought the very best guys out there. A lot of guys get soft because their records have been so easily built. Look at his and look at mine and tell me which one was manufactured and which was built the old-fashioned way.
"Everybody is talking about Bradley's hand speed. I didn't see a lot of hand speed. Everybody is talking about his foot speed, I didn't see a lot of foot speed. They're talking about his youth, I've fought a lot of that. Youth is not invincibility. You need to have what is called wisdom, understanding and experience. You can't get that with youth, that comes with time, persevering and doing this thing called boxing.
"I know when to fight, how to fight, when to walk away. I'm a world champion but my profession is being a professional prizefighter."
On Vernon Forrest
I'm not going to lie and say that Vernon Forrest and I were friends. We actually didn't get along at all. That may be why I'm taking his loss that much harder.
When I got the call 8AM in the morning from a member of his camp notifying me of his death, it made me instantly put what was important in this world in the proper perspective.
Life is short. If I take anything from this tragedy, it's that you cannot hold onto meaningless grudges. Vernon was a man who was truly loved by those around him and often-times misunderstood by people just outside of his inner circle.
All the same, I mourn his tragedy just like the rest of the world. My hat is off to you, may your soul rest at ease and may justice come sternly for those who have transgressed you.
On Arturo Gatti
Like him or not, Lou Dibella never holds his tongue and always speaks from the heart. When he spoke at Arturo Gatti's memorial service at St. John the Baptist Church in Jersey City, NJ this past Thursday, he said what everyone in attendance had on their mind.
"Arturo Gatti loved life. Arturo Gatti never quit in the ring, he never quit in life and he never quit in Brazil. Let's all pray that truth and justice prevail in Brazil."
The ovation for Dibella's opening remarks lasted for well over a minute.
New Article in Boxing Digest Magazine
My latest contribution to Boxing Digest Magazine was made available to the public this week in the August 2009 edition. The piece centers around the retirement of Oscar de la Hoya and his impact on the sport as a fighter and businessman. Shane Mosley, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto and Floyd Mayweather Jr. grace the cover.
Ryan Songalia is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at songaliaboxing@aol.com .
