Campbell-Fortuna come to terms for title fight
Luke Campbell and Javier Fortuna were running out of time before going to a purse bid this week for their upcoming WBC Lightweight title fight. As of Monday night, both sides have come to terms.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman on his twitter account announced that the upcoming purse bid was canceled as both sides, Eddie Hearn, Campbell’s promoter (Matchroom Boxing) and Fortuna’s promoter Sampson Lewkowicz (Sampson Boxing) have come to terms
.@EddieHearn & @SampsonBoxing have confirmed that they have reached an agreement for the @luke11campbell vs Javier Fortuna for the @WBCBoxing lightweight championship. Purse bid has been cancelled @MatchroomBoxing pic.twitter.com/baD1iJq5FF
— Mauricio Sulaiman (@wbcmoro) January 28, 2020
Last week, Jake Donovan of Boxingscene.com reported that both sides were working to make this fight happen so much, so they requested the previous week a delaying of the purse bid an additional week. Talks for this bout began back in December as the original titleholder Devin Haney had to vacate the title as he underwent shoulder surgery and is expected to be out for six months. Haney was expected to challenge the number one contender Fortuna. Still, since he’s sidelined with injury, the next available challenger Campbell is next-in-line to get a second crack at the title.
The 2012 Olympian Campbell (20-3, 16KOs) was last in action in a hard-fought defeat against Vasily Lomachenko in England last August for the same WBC title he is making a second go around. He is looking to make his third time the charm for a title as his first attempt in Sept 2017 against Jorge Linares was also unsuccessful.
Fortuna (35-2-1, 24KOs) is looking to make in three weight classes and his first since 2016. A former WBA Super Featherweight titleholder, Fortuna held that title back in 2015 and earned the mandatory position following a two-round stoppage of Jesus Cuellar back in November. He is looking at a second chance since his last chance at a title was against Robert Easter Jr. in 2018 and lost via split decision. The decision would’ve been moot as he missed weight and wouldn’t have won the title even if he beat Easter.
Marquis Johns is a unknown humorist and avid boxing fan. His love for the sweet science goes back to when matches were 15 rounds and has been covering fights since closed-circuit pay-per-views. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth is not only a quote by Mike Tyson, it's also a pretty good reminder to keep your guard up.
