Amir Khan Undercard Recap Nate Campbell V Victor Ortiz
It’s easy to say that a fighter is at a crossroads in their career heading into a big fight. Technically, any bout has the opportunity to launch them to the next level or have a devastating impact in their career. However, the undercard to Amir Khan’s win over Paulie Malignaggi at Madison Square Garden featured two fighters who had already faced the ups and downs of boxing and could definitely ill-afford to take a loss at this stage in their careers.
Nate Campbell had reached the top of boxing world in the past, previously holding the unified lightweight title. However, he is now 38 and had struggled in his most recent contests: he dropped his lightweight titles after failing to make weight for his defense against Ali Funeka in February 2009 and was battered against Timothy Bradley in his challenge for the WBO junior welterweight title in August 2009 before the fight was stopped and declared a no-contest due to an accidental cut. Meanwhile, Victor Ortiz’s meteoric rise through boxing that saw him named ESPN’s “Prospect of the Year” in 2008 was derailed with a sixth-round stoppage loss to Marcos Rene Maidana in June 2009.
So even though there was a 15-year age gap between the two fighters, they both came into the fight needing a victory. For Ortiz, a win against a “name” opponent in a nationally televised fight would be just the tonic he would need to regain his reputation. Meanwhile, Campbell needed to prove that he could physically still get it gone against a younger and fresher fighter. The main question for the fight would be this: could Ortiz’s youth and power counter Campbell’s veteran guile and experience?
At the end, it was no contest because it appeared that Campbell simply didn’t have what it took to compete against Ortiz. He was knocked down in the first round when he was hit while a punch while off-balance and his gloves touched the apron of the ring. He didn’t appear hurt, but it wasn’t a good sign either. Unfortunately for Campbell, the first round with a harbinger of things to come as he was unable to find his range against a quick and elusive opponent and couldn’t pull the trigger when he did have opportunities.
Meanwhile, Ortiz did an outstanding job in showing maturity inside the ring and following the game plan to perfection. He was content to whip his jab at Ortiz while flashing follow-up shots to the head and body before backing out of danger - a relative term considering the lack of resistance that Campbell was providing. In a fight where he needed to overwhelm Ortiz with work rate and hand speed, Campbell just wasn’t throwing punches. According to ringside stats, Campbell threw just 43 punches per round while landing only seven - poor numbers by anyone’s standards but simply awful for Campbell.
By the end of the fight, the only question was whether Campbell could go the distance. He did, mainly because Ortiz didn’t seem overly concerned with turning on the pressure for a knockdown. The results were as expected: Ortiz won a unanimous decision, losing only one round on one judge’s scorecard while pulling off the clean sweep on the other two.
So where does this leave both fighters? For Campbell, it should lead him to the retirement home. After the fight, he claimed that his hip had tightened up before the fight and that he almost pulled out. This might be true, or it might be that like many fighters at the end of their career, he’s lost the reflexes and nerve needed to pull the trigger and release his punches. However, it’s important to keep in mind that Campbell once filed for bankruptcy while holding the lightweight title: simply put, he needs to keep fighting in order to get paid.
As for Ortiz, the future is apparently wide open after the fight. Earlier this week he discussed being open to a fight against Khan; however, it’s unlikely that Golden Boy Promotions would pit two of their potentially biggest draws against each other.
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