By Eric Thomas: Former IBF/WBA/WBO lightweight champion Nate Campbell (36-10-1, 26 KO’s) will be dropping back down to lightweight to face unbeaten prospect Terry Flannigan (19-0, 5 KO’s) in a scheduled 10 round bout on the undercard of the Amir Khan vs. Julio Diaz card on April 27th at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, UK.
Campbell, 41, was soundly beaten in his last fight against unbeaten welterweight contender Kevin Bizier in an 8th round stoppage last February. It was a big mistake for Campbell to agree to move up from light welterweight to take on the bigger, stronger and younger Bizier in the 147 pound division.
It’s not that Bizier is the greatest welterweight in the division or even close to that, but he was just too big for Campbell to face.
It’s going to be interesting to see if Campbell will be able to make the lightweight limit for the fight with Flannigan because he hasn’t fought at lightweight in four years since beating Ali Funeka by a 12 round majority decision in February 2009, and even in that fight, Campbell failed to make weight with the vacant IBF, WBA and WBO lightweight titles on the line.
The last time Campbell was able to make weight for a lightweight bout was in March 2008 when he beat Juan Diaz by a 12 round split decision. That’s five years and that’s a long time ago. Campbell should have stayed at lightweight and gotten a nutritionist to help him with the weight because he likely would have remained a champion for another two or three years.
Instead, Campbell moved up to light welterweight and he immediately started struggling, losing four out of his first six fights at that weight. Why Campbell didn’t get a clue that he didn’t have the size to fight at that weight is unknown, but it’s too bad he didn’t figure out then that the only place he could fight is at lightweight.
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