Bradley-Campbell Ruled a No Contest – News

By Jim Dower: For what it’s worth, the August 1st bout between World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley and Nate Campbell has been ruled a no contest by the California State Athletic commission today. The ruling was the result of an injury that occurred to Campbell during a head clash with Bradley in the 3rd round.

The referee David Mendoza should have made the call himself, but he felt that the cut that opened up over Campbell’s left eye in the 3rd was a result of a punch and not a cut. The fight was stopped after the 3rd round as Campbell complained that he couldn’t see due to the blood leaking into his eye.

The commission agreed that the cut was caused by the head clash, something that pretty much everyone that saw the fight agreed on, except the referee. The ruling takes away a loss from Campbell’s record and removes a victory from the win column from Bradley.

What it doesn’t do is increase the likelihood of a rematch between the two fighters. The fight was largely one-sided with Bradley dominating all three rounds of the fight. And while the bout was only three rounds, it was so one-sided that there will likely be little interest by the boxing public to see a rematch.

Campbell may want a rematch, because it will give him another title shot and a good payday, but I can’t see Bradley showing any interest in another fight with Campbell. Nate is ranked number #1 in the WBO, but he’ll likely have to wait awhile longer before he gets another title shot.

A rematch between the two fighters will likely be as one-sided as the first fight was. Campbell, 37, looked old and slow, and was finding it hard to land any of his slow punches against the much quicker Bradley. It’s unfortunate that the WBO has Campbell ranked so highly, because he didn’t look good in his fight with Bradley and it would be much more interesting for Bradley if he didn’t have to keep fighting Campbell.

Bradley might be better off vacating the title and going after Devon Alexander, the WBC light welterweight champion or better yet, WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan. Knowing these sanctioning bodies, they would likely push Bradley to the number #1 spot in the WBA or WBC once Bradley vacates the WBO title. But facing Campbell again seems like wasted time to me.

Hopefully, no additional cuts occur for Campbell, because I’d hate to see him start complaining that he can’t see again and then have another no contest. It’s not interesting already. Let Campbell beat some top contenders in the light welterweight division like Victor Ortiz.

If Campbell can beat Ortiz, then by all means match the 37-year-old Campbell with Bradley again. But short of that, I really don’t want to see him fight Bradley again. That seems like a nice boring fight filled with complaining if something goes wrong again.

6 Responses to “Bradley-Campbell Ruled a No Contest – News”