Two fights took place on Saturday 25th October at Hull City’s KC stadium that sent shockwaves through the English lightweight division. Olympic golden boy Luke Campbell was back in action followed shortly after by Tommy Coyle, with both fighters being from Hull and very proud of it, many have had a future fight lined up for some time, it has just been a matter of making sure their paths cross.
Campbell has been a late bloomer in professional boxing, having only had 9 professional fights following his Olympic success in 2012 and already being 27 years old. He therefore can’t afford to take his time and slowly learn his trade as others such as Anthony Joshua have been able to do, he must power on through the division and try and make a name for himself. Against Daniel Eduardo Brizuela, he certainly did that. The first couple of rounds were a little cagey but it was obvious from the off that Campbell’s superior height and reach advantage was going to make it a hard night for the Argentinian. By the fourth round, Campbell almost had his man out of there, he had him pinned down and almost finished the job but the bell saves Brizuela. In the fifth round there was no such luck, Campbell attacked with sustained ferocity and left the Argentinian unable to defend himself from the barrage of punches when the referee stepped in.
Following the conclusion of the fight, Campbell quickly threw on a t-shirt and took a seat to watch the Tommy Coyle fight against the highly rated and very experienced Australian, Michael Katsidis. This was expected to be a very tough night for Coyle and the first round was probably better for Michael Katsidis, despite getting a cut on his left eyebrow following a clash of heads. In the second round however, Coyle landed an absolute peach of a left hook that took knocked Katsidis out while he was still stood up, to his credit he somehow managed to get back up before the end of the count but was still completely out of it.
Eddie Hearn announced at the end of the fight that Campbell and Coyle would be squaring up next summer in what looks to be a great match up. They will both be fighting before then in a last warm up fight to stay fresh.
