Campbell Hatton vs Joe Ducker confirmed on Okolie-Cieslak card
Rising lightweight star Campbell Hatton (5-0, 1KOs) takes on his first winning opponent in Joe Ducker (9-8-2, 2KOs) at the O2 Arena, Greenwich, on the undercard of Lawrence Okolie vs Michal Cieslak on February 27.
Loughborough's Ducker has lost eight from 19 bouts and comes into the six-round lightweight contest with Hatton off the back of two successive points wins.
Now 36, Ducker turned pro in 2016 but only won once in his first six bouts, within the first 10 months of his career, but is currently on good form with four wins from his last five fights.
21-year-old Campbell bounced back from a bad performance in his last fight against Sonni Martinez to KO Hungarian Attila Csereklye in round two in Bilbao, Spain in December. Spiteful, patient and confident, Manchester's Campbell showed significant improvements to floor his opponent three times.
His famous father, Ricky, stopped four of his first five opponents, over 24 years ago now, and Campbell showed shades of 'The Hitman' with his vicious body blows in his last performance and will be eager to continue that devastation into fight number six.
The youngster had won his first three fights with shutout points wins, but in his fourth assignment against Spaniard Sonni Martinez on the Joshua-Usyk undercard, he was outboxed but was very fortunately gifted the 58-57 points decision to retain his unbeaten record.
He went back to the drawing board after the subpar performance and made the neccessary adjustments to come back stronger.
His next fight will be exactly 11 months to the day of his debut.
He said of his next challenge: "I feel like a different fighter, showing my patience and composure where I used to be forcing things and doing too much.
"There was no pressure out in Bilbao. But obviously we don’t want it to stay like that. It’s massively beneficial for me to do shows like this. There’s no going backwards now.
"He’s got a winning record and he’s definitely a good opponent. It’s going to be a good test for me but I think where I’ve forced things and tried doing too much in the past, I think having a bit more of an ambitious opponent is going to make me think more. It’s going to make me stay switched on and not rush things."
Press Conference Quotes:
Campbell Hatton: “It was more of what we’re used to seeing in the gym when I boxed last time out in Bilbao, it was a lot more relaxed and composed – it’s going to be the same this time. That’s the mindset I’m going in with for the rest of my career, I’m not going to be rushing my work, I’ve learnt from my mistakes so I’m looking forward to building on my last performance.
“I think having an opponent that’s going to come and win, he’s going to be confident coming into the fight, he’ll have seen me at my worst in the Tottenham fight and that’s not what’s going to be happening again. He’ll be really up for it and fancy his chances, he’ll leave a few more gaps, when I’ve got a more ambitious opponent that’ll bring the best out in me.”
Joe Ducker: “I just can’t wait, all the hard work is done, I’m just ready now. “It’s just another opponent to me, I think I’ve been in with better so I’m just here to do my job.”
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