Luke And Learn

Elliot Worsell explains why writing a Lomachenko preview is not as easy as it may seem

- Elliot Worsell

IT’S a tough task previewing a Vasyl Lomachenko fight if the intention is to make the fight in question seem competitive. It’s even tougher constructing the game plan to ensure a fight against Vasyl Lomachenko is competitive. The toughest job of all, though, belongs to the man trying to carry out this game plan, make a mockery of the preview, and be not just competitive but better than Vasyl Lomachenko in a boxing ring.

This Saturday (August 31) in London that man is Luke Campbell, whose job it is to exploit flaws in Lomachenko no one else has spotted, let alone attacked. Meanwhile, it’s the job of Shane McGuigan, Campbell’s coach, to keep the challenger believing even when it dawns on him that perceived flaws have a habit of becoming counterpunches in the company of Lomachenko.

Belief. It’s what it’s all about. Yet to believe in Campbell’s chances against Lomachenko, the WBA and WBO lightweight champion, you need to be either brave or biased. You need to either suspend disbelief or be affiliated with the Hull man. Anything else, based on the evidence available, is little more than conjecture, blind optimism.

Campbell, quality fighter though he is, is going up against arguably the finest technician of his generation on Saturday and has not a single win on his record to suggest he will make this sentence seem overblown come Sunday. He is daring to be great, as they say, but doing so against a man whose greatness is solidified just 14 fights into his professional career. How’s that for a challenge?

Campbell, ranked number one by the WBC, isn’t prepared for what’s to come. Then again, when it comes to Lomachenko, few are.