By Keith Idec
As much as Carl Froch wants to support his countryman, he just can’t envision Luke Campbell upsetting Vasiliy Lomachenko.
The retired former super middleweight champion commended Campbell for improving in recent years during Sky Sports’ preview show, “The Gloves Are Off.” The Sky Sports boxing analyst considers Lomachenko an all-time great, though, entirely too good to lose to England’s Campbell on Saturday night at a sold-out O2 Arena in London.
“He’s one of the best fighters to ever grace the sport,” Froch said during a segment that also featured Tony Bellew, David Haye and Paulie Malignaggi. “He’s up there with a prime Roy Jones Jr. … What a great fighter he was. Speed, accuracy, timing. He could win a fight with one punch, with his jab and his movement, Roy Jones in his prime. And I think Lomachenko can do the same. It’s a really tough fight for Luke Campbell. Luke Campbell’s a top fighter, an Olympic gold medalist himself, so he’s got that amateur pedigree and that same sort of hit and don’t get hit kind of reflex movement. But we’ve seen Luke Campbell get beat. We’ve seen him in trouble. We’ve seen him get caught.”
The 31-year-old Campbell (20-2, 16 KOs), an Olympic gold medalist in 2012, has lost only a pair of 12-round split decisions to Yvan Mendy and Jorge Linares. Campbell avenged his defeat to Mendy (43-5-1, 21 KOs, 1 NC) two fights ago, when he convincingly out-boxed the Frenchman and won a 12-round unanimous decision last September 22 at Wembley Stadium in London.
Ukraine’s Lomachenko (13-1, 10 KOs) obviously presents a more complex challenge than Mendy. The two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-division champion thus is consistently listed as at least a 16-1 favorite in their 12-round, 135-pound championship fight for the WBA, WBC and WBO titles.
“He’s improving,” Froch said of Campbell. “He’s getting better. He’s at a time in his career now where he needs to be taking these kind of fights. But I don’t think it’s a fight he can win. I like Luke Campbell from the amateurs, and he’ll probably see this and think, ‘Froch, you’re out of order.’ But I’ve gotta be honest. The question was about Lomachenko and Luke Campbell. I just don’t think he can win the fight. But it’s no disrespect to Luke Campbell. Nobody beats Lomachenko.”
Lomachenko-Campbell will headline a pay-per-view broadcast by Sky Sports Box Office in the United Kingdom (£19.95; 6 p.m. BST). It’ll be the main event of a multi-bout stream by ESPN+ in the United States (1 p.m. EDT/10 a.m. PDT).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
