LUKE CAMPBELL has got the fight he craves. He will rematch Yvan Mendy in a final eliminator for the WBC world title on the September 22 undercard of Anthony Joshua-Alexander Povetkin at Wembley Stadium.
Mendy and Campbell have history. In 2015 Luke suffered a shock defeat to the Frenchman. The Olympic gold medallist is now determined to settle the score.
Campbell did rebuild from that loss and went on to challenge Jorge Linares, going the distance with him in a world title clash last year.
“I can’t wait to go in there and put a good performance on,” Campbell said. “He earned his position, so have I.”
“It doesn’t keep me up at night. I was just sad that I let that happen myself. I was sad that I let people see a very weak version of me that night. I shouldn’t have got in there,” he adds.
“I’d love to re-write that wrong and scrub him off my record and move forward and be in the number one position with the WBC as well.”
This will be Campbell’s first fight with new trainer Shane McGuigan. “I’ve changed since then [the first Mendy fight],” he said. “Shane will look at the fight and say what worked for him, what I was doing wrong, what success I had in that fight, where it was. He’ll look at that type of thing.
“He’s already on it. I never had that. I never had anyone looking at fights for me before, never in my whole career. Two fights ago I was still making weight like an amateur and treating it like that. It’s crazy.”
But Mendy has a warning. “I’m within touching distance of landing a shot at the WBC world title and Luke Campbell is standing in my way,” the Frenchman said. “I’m willing to fight anyone to get my hands on that green belt – I beat him before and I will do it again. This time he will not hear the final bell.
“I knew that Eddie Hearn would do his best to make this rematch happen and I’ll be fully prepared on September 22. Seven fights and two and a half years later, it’s time to confirm that I deserve the chance to fight for the WBC title.”
