By Lyle Fitzsimmons

Go ahead, just try and kill off Nate Campbell.

But before you do, here’s a little advice: Don’t bother.

The rough-hewn Floridian, whose spotlight career has already been pronounced dead in two weight divisions, is three-plus weeks from yet another resuscitation at junior welterweight.

Campbell was bloodied – but technically not beaten – in his debut among the 140-pounders, bowing out with a serious eye gash after three rounds with WBO champ Timothy Bradley in an Aug. 1 match initially ruled a TKO before California’s state athletic commission declared it a no-contest 23 days later.

He returns to action for the first time since on May 15 in New York, where he’ll take on Golden Boy product Victor Ortiz in the final HBO run-up to an Amir Khan-Paulie Malignaggi main event at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in midtown Manhattan.

It’s the first fighting trip to the Big Apple for the 38-year-old Campbell, who’s made three jaunts apiece to nearby New Jersey and Connecticut – resulting in five wins, a draw and three knockouts – most recently in 2006 against Mexican journeyman Francisco Javier Olvera.

“It’s been my dream to fight at the Garden. It’s always been my dream,” said Campbell, who’s actually never set foot inside the building. “Ray Robinson fought there. All the greats have fought there. And I decided I wouldn’t ever go there until it was time for me to fight there.”

Trekas said the Ortiz fight “could be” for the NABO title at 140, with the winner becoming a mandatory challenger to the Bradley-Marcos Maidana winner in July.

“(Nate) can hang with anyone at 140,” Trekas said. “We tried getting the Bradley rematch, but Bradley doesn’t want it. Hopefully, assuming Nate handles Ortiz, we can get either the Khan-Malignaggi winner or the Bradley-Maidana winner, but who knows?
 
“Nate could eventually go up to 147, but there’s plenty of business to take care of at 140 first.”

Ortiz has won two straight since his last loss, a TKO at the hands of Maidana in June 2009 which sparked questions about the losing fighter’s heart after he chose not to continue in the sixth round. 

“He’s a strong young kid and a decent puncher,” Campbell said, “but once the bell rings we’ll find out what he’s made of. I’ve watched his fights. He’s a bully. I think a lot of guys are bullies. But you don’t get very far if you try to bully me. I’m bully proof.”

If the belt is on the line it would be Campbell’s fourth “official” championship match in a career that began in 2000. He was stopped in eight rounds by IBF junior lightweight incumbent Robbie Peden in 2005 and lost a split decision to Isaac Hlatshwayo for the IBO lightweight title in 2006, before breaking through to topple Juan Diaz for IBF, WBA and WBO hardware a day after turning 36 in 2008.

A planned defense against Joan Guzman fell through when the Dominican failed to make weight in Biloxi, Miss., and Campbell himself lost the belt on the scales when he couldn’t make 135 prior to meeting South African stringbean Ali Funeka in Sunrise, Fla. in 2009.

Campbell won the bout by majority decision after weighing 137½ pounds then bumped up a pound for the subsequent scrub against Bradley at the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

“Me and Bradley can fight again whenever. Me and Khan can fight whenever. I’ll be ready to fight when anyone calls,” Campbell said. “I just want to fight. And I’m going to keep on fighting until God says boxing is over. And then I’ll let it go. Titles or no titles, I’ll just let it go.”

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Other bits and kibbles for the week:

KUDOS TO COLLEAGUE LEE GROVES for a great look-back on last week’s 25th Hagler-Hearns anniversary. Even though, as a life-long Tommy fan, it was a tough memory for me.

I had just turned 16 and was basking in my role as unofficial boxing commissioner of Niagara-Wheatfield Senior High School at fight time, telling anyone who’d listen that the “Hitman” would follow through on a promise to take Marvelous Marvin out in three rounds.

So, having leveraged $200 of paper route money in wagers, I trudged across the Rainbow Bridge to Niagara Falls, Ontario to watch it on closed-circuit TV at the Sheraton Brock Hotel – which, ironically, has since transformed into a multi-million dollar casino.

After an awful undercard, the thrilling first round was a welcome sight. And with my blind “Tommy Can’t Lose” faith going strong, I didn’t sense real peril until a combination sent my man loping gangily around the ring before winding up on his back and warranting humane rescue from Richard Steele.

But I think I cringed most at Lee’s story when he recalled the perfectly conceived post-fight commercial, complete with tasty blues music and a deservedly gloating champion… Damn you, Pizza Hut!

LASTLY, FOR EDWIN VALERO, TWO QUICK QUESTIONS: If you were so determined to bail out early anyway, why couldn’t you have done it before costing someone else her life, too? But then again, I guess that would have been too much to ask of a tough-guy piece of trash, huh?

Good riddance to an awful human being.

And please spare any follow-up about rough upbringings or extenuating circumstance. Bottom line, a man of his means and stature could have extricated himself from any situation before it led to murder. Instead he chose not to, and his wife was the real victim… not him.

If there’s a Hell, here’s hoping he finds it in record time.

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This week’s title-fight schedule:

SATURDAY
WBC super middleweight title – Herning, Denmark
Carl Froch (champion) vs. Mikkel Kessler (No. 3 contender)
Froch (26-0, 20 KO): Third title defense; Third fight outside U.K. (2-0, 2 KO)
Kessler (42-2, 32 KO): Eleventh title fight (8-2, 6 KO); Unbeaten in Denmark (39-0, 31 KO)
Fitzbitz says: “Ward made him look bad, but I think Kessler’s still the better man here.” – Kessler by decision.

WBO light heavyweight title – Hamburg, Germany
Juergen Braehmer (champion) vs. Mariano Plotinsky (No. 6 contender)
Braehmer (35-2, 28 KO): Second title defense; One loss above 168 pounds (13-1, 12 KO)
Plotinsky (16-3, 8 KO): First title fight; Third fight in Germany (2-0, 2 KO)
Fitzbitz says: “It’s a paper title as long as Chad Dawson’s around, but Braehmer is far superior in this match.” – Braehmer in 7.

Last week’s picks: 3-1
Overall picks record: 91-35 (72.2 percent)
 
Lyle Fitzsimmons is an award-winning 21-year sports journalist, a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and wonders how long it’ll be before songs from Saturday’s Bon Jovi concert in Tampa are out of his head. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com , follow him at twitter.com/fitzbitz or read more at fitzbitzonfights.wordpress.com.