ACCORDING to the World Boxing Council’s Mauricio Sulaiman, terms have been agreed between the parties of Luke Campbell and the Dominican Republic’s Javier Fortuna to clash for the vacant WBC lightweight title. The contest had been put out to purse bids but they were cancelled when Eddie Hearn and Sampson Lewkowicz thrashed out a deal between them.
On paper, this will go down as 32-yearold’s Campbell’s third ‘world’ title shot but the fact that Vasyl Lomachenko – who defeated Luke in August – remains at 130lbs after being elevated to the WBC’s utterly nonsensical ‘Franchise’ champion, does muddy the legitimacy of this championship somewhat. The blame for that, though, lies firmly at the WBC’s door.
For former WBA super-featherweight titlist Fortuna, 30, this will mark his second attempt at lightweight honours after he lost a split decision to Robert Easter Jnr in a January 2018 challenge. The contest between Campbell, 20-3 (16) and Fortuna, 35-2-1 (24), is reported to be heading for Matchroom’s O2 Arena show in London on March 28, likely to be topped by Oleksandr Usyk and Dereck Chisora, though it’s yet to be confirmed.