By Scott Gilfoid: Lightweight contender Luke Campbell (18-2, 15 KOs) used his HUGE size advantage to stop the smaller, weaker and far less talented Troy James (20-6-1, 5 KOs) in the 5th round on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Campbell, 30, knocked down featherweight James twice in the fight in dropping him in round 2 and 4. In the 5th, Campbell unloaded on the 34-year-old James with a series of hurtful shots that led to the referee stepping in to stop the slaughter. James had been picked from the featherweight division this week for Campbell to fight.
It’s unclear why Campbell’s promoter Eddie Hearn combed the featherweight division for an opponent for Campbell, because he’s a lightweight and a huge one at that. The 5’4’ James looked like he had no business inside the ring with Campbell tonight. James had the look of someone that stumbled into the wrong ring.
In round 2, Campbell nailed James with a left uppercut followed by a right hand that dropped him. James was quickly up off the canvas and did nothing for the remainder of the round.
The 2012 Olympic gold medalist Campbell continued to hit James at will in round 3, punishing him with body and head shots. In the 4th, Campbell dropped James with a hard shot that put him down. James showed heart in getting up off the canvas. The referee should have stopped the mismatch at that time, but he chose to let it continue.
“That was what I wanted. I caught him with some nice shots, he was a tough guy,” Campbell said to Sky Sports after the fight. “My number one fight is Yvan Mendy, I have unfinished business there, I need to clean my record, it’s a big fight and I want that.”
With Campbell’s win over James, he’ll now be facing Yvan Mendy (40-4-1, 19 KOs) in a WBC lightweight title eliminator this summer. Hearn plans on making the Campbell vs. Mendy fight with the winner taking on WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia. Mendy is ranked #1 WBC and Campbell #2. In December 2015, Mendy beat Campbell by a 12 round split decision.
Campbell is getting kind of spoiled now with the title shots, as he just finished fighting for a world title last September against WBA World lightweight champion Jorge Linares, who beat him by a 12 round split decision. The judge that scored the fight for Campbell, Victor Loughlin, is from the UK. The other two judges had Linares winning. Boxing News 24 had Linares winning the fight 8 rounds to 4.
It’s too bad Campbell must fight Mendy to get to Mikey Garcia, because he might lose to him again. Their previous fight was a clear win for Mendy. The scoring was gawd awful bad by the three judges that worked the fight. At best, Campbell deserved 3 rounds. The judge that had Campbell winning, John Keane, looked like he was scoring a different fight.