Luke Campbell gets a crack at Devin Haney's title while he recovers from surgery
On December 13, 2019, the World Boxing Council Board of Governors voted in favour of granting WBC world lightweight champion Devin "The Dream" Haney (24-0, 15KOs) the status of champion in recess, allowing him to recover from a recent injury on his right shoulder.
Haney, 21 from Las Vegas, was injured in his fight against Alfredo Santiago (12-1) on November 9, which was the first defense of the lightweight title, winning 120-107 on all three judges' cards after decking his opponent in the fifth round.
A period free of negotiations is ordered for Dominican Javier Fortuna (35-2-1, 24KOs) and Briton Luke Campbell (20-3, 16KOs) to contest the vacant title of the WBC. If an agreement is not reached, a purse bid will be held on January 3, 2020.
32-year-old Campbell's last fight was for the same WBC world lightweight strap, which was vacant at the time, against pound-for-pound great Vasyl Lomachenko at The O2 Arena in London. "Hi-Tech". Loma came into the fight with the WBA and WBO world lightweghts titles around his waist. The Ukrainian master had a difficult 12 rounds with the southpaw from Hull, despite being awarded nearly every round by the ringside judges; there was an 11th round knockdown when Campbell was caught with a right hand from Loma, but he showed amazing grit and determination to come through the storm. Both fighters were Olympic gold medallists and put on an incredible show for the 20,000 spectators.
Now Campbell gets another chance to become aorld champion against "El Abejon", a former WBA World super-featherweight champion. The 30-year-old southpaw, who now resides in Mass, was unsuccessful in his attempt to become a two weight world champion against Robert Easter Jr for the IBF Wold lightweight belt. However, he had forfeited the chance to win the title after weighing in a pond and a half over the championship limit, a mistake he has made more than once during his 10-year career.