Nate Campbell stops Victor Cayo in the 9th

By Boxing News - 03/25/2012 - Comments

By Jim Dower: 40-year-old former lightweight champion Nate Campbell (35-9-1, 26 KO’s) pulled off a slight upset of light welterweight contender Victor Cayo (27-3, 19 KO’s) by stopping him in the 9th round on Saturday night in Cayo’s home country at the Palacio de Deportes, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Campbell, who came into the fight having lost four out of his last five fights, knocked Cayo down twice in the 5th round. Cayo, 27, never recovered from the knockdowns, as Campbell blitzed him from that point on punishing him with power shots until the fight was halted four rounds later in the 9th with Cayo taking shots from the energized Campbell.

Cayo dominated the action in the first four rounds of the fight and was controlling the 5th when he was badly hurt by a big right hand from Campbell. From there, it was all downhill for Cayo #6 IBF, who has now lost two out of his last three fights. For Campbell, it was a good win but it’s hard to see where he goes from here. He doesn’t really have a place in the light welterweight division other than being a gate keeper.

He’s not going to beat the best fighters in the division and that’s already been prove with Campbell’s losses to Victor Ortiz, Walter Estrada, Danny Garcia and Kahbib Allakhverdiev in the past two years. Campbell’s win over Cayo was more of a statement of where Cayo is than it is for Campbell being any kind of factor at 140. Cayo was stopped in the 12th round by Lamont Peterson two fights earlier in July of last year in a fight where Cayo ran out of gas and took punishment until the fight was halted in the 12th.