Campbell Hatton meets Michal Dufek on Smith-O'maison undercard
Rising lightweight star Campbell Hatton (7-0, 2KO) meets Michal Dufek (34-23-2, 22KO) at the Sheffield Arena on August 6, live on DAZN.
21-year-old Campbell bounced back impressively from a bad performance in his fourth fight with Sonni Martinez to KO two opponents in a row, followed by shutout six-rond points win in his last fight in April.
The youngster 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 fortunately gifted a biased 58-57 points decision to retain his unbeaten record. He went back to the drawing board and made the neccessary adjustments to come back stronger.
Now, he faces his next test in Czech fighter Michal Dufek, who has three times the knockouts on his record than Campbell has had fights.
Michal Dufek was born on May 28, 1983, in Prague, Czech Republic.
His pro debut took place one week before his 26th birthday on May 23, 2009, which he won on points over four rounds.
He fought for the Republic of Poland International super-lightweight title in his last fight, against Damian Wrzesinski, but retired after the eighth round.
He is 39-years-old and has fought in England five times before – against Nathan Dale (2013); Terry Flanagan (2013); John Wayne Hibbert (2014); Romeo Romaeo (2016); Robbie Davies Jr (2019).
The Prague puncher has stopped 22 opponents from 34 victories, which amounts to a 65% KO ratio.
He is ranked 2nd best Czech Republic super-lightweight on BoxRec.
He won the Czech super-lightweight title in June 2016.
He has challenged for lots of titles unsuccessfully – Czech Republic lightweight title x2; WBF International super-lightweight title; Czech super-lightweight title; Dutch super-lightweight title; Republic of Poland International super-lightweight title.
He also owns a few obscure titles, namely the RBO Europa belt, and is listed on the Royal Boxing Organization's website as their reigning World lightweight champion.
He trains at the Padera Gym in Praha-Libuš, Czechia.
What they've said
Campbell Hatton: “It is a step up and I think it’s going to bring the best out of me to be honest. He’s coming in with a winning record so he’s going to have that ambition about him. I think when you’re fighting the sort of journeyman type fighters, they don’t offer much aggressively. It’s hard to get your work off and look good against them. Whereas this guy is coming to win and he’s going to leave openings. That’s going to work in my favour. I’ve got all of the ingredients you need to make it as a top fighter but the one area I’m lacking is the experience. The only way to improve that is by being active. Hopefully if we can finish the years in double figures nice and busy that would be perfect.”
