Nate Campbell

Nate Campbell
Statistics
Real name	Nathaniel Campbell III
Nickname(s)	The Galaxxy Warrior
Rated at	Lightweight Light welterweight Welterweight
Height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Reach	70 in (178 cm)
Nationality	American
Born	March 7, 1972 Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	50
Wins	37
Wins by KO	26
Losses	11
Draws	1
No contests	1

Nathaniel Campbell III (born March 7, 1972), more commonly known as Nate Campbell, is an American professional boxer. He is a former unified WBA, IBF and WBO lightweight champion.

Amateur career

Campbell had an amateur record of 30-5, before trying out for the American Olympic Boxing Team.

Prior to Nate Campbell turning professional he tried out for the United States Boxing 2000 Olympic team. During the trials, Campbell lost a controversial bout which eliminated him from being on the 2000 team. The match was a close one which could have easily been decided for or against him. After the match, Campbell told an insider "my amateur days are over, I can't feed my family trophies." He finished his amateur career with a record of 30-6.

Prior to his first match, Nate Campbell trained in Tallahassee, Florida with the Seminole Boxing Club in downtown Tallahassee. The Seminole Boxing Club was trained by Frank Jimenez.

Professional career

Early years at lightweight

Campbell turned professional in 2000 in Tallahassee and quickly stormed through his opponents. He won his first 23 bouts, setting up a bout with cagey veteran Joel Casamayor in 2003.

Super featherweight

Casamayor won a unanimous decision. Despite losing a unanimous decision against Casamayor, many commentators including the HBO commentators that night believed that Nate Campbell had fought a much closer match then what the scorecards indicated. Some commentators even stated that Nate Campbell had won that closely fought match.

After the loss Campbell slipped into obscurity after two losses to Robbie Peden and a loss to Francisco Lorenzo. After these losses, many in the boxing world believed that Nate Campbell's boxing days were over.

Return to lightweight

Nonetheless, Campbell stormed back on the scene in 2005 with a big win over undefeated prospect Kid Diamond. In 2006 he lost a split decision to Isaac Hlatshwayo, but won an IBF title eliminator against Matt Zegan. Instead of a title shot, Campbell's next bout was another eliminator, which he won over Ricky Quiles. After knocking out Wilson Alcorro, his next bout was a split decision victory over the undefeated Juan Díaz on March 8, 2008 to become the new IBF, WBA, and WBO unified World Lightweight Champion. Nate Campbell was the underdog coming into the fight against Juan Díaz. Juan Díaz was considered too strong and too technically sound against the likes of Campbell. Nate Campbell surprised the boxing world by controlling the tempo of the fight. The first 7 rounds were heavily contested but from the 8th round afterwards, Campbell completely controlled the fight as Diaz's eyes began swelling.

Campbell's first defense of his recently won WBA, WBO and IBF titles was to be against Joan Guzmán who just moved up from the Super Featherweight division. The fight was to take place at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, Mississippi, United States on September 13, 2008. But because Guzman weighed in more than 3 pounds above the weight limit, Campbell's titles weren't staked. Unfortunately, due to Guzman being dehydrated after trying to make the weight, the Guzman camp backed out and the fight was cancelled.

On January 10, 2009, Campbell vacated his WBA lightweight title because of concerns regarding sanctioning fees and proposed mandatory defenses.^[1]

Just as Guzman had trouble making weight, Campbell experienced a similar problem as he was supposed to defend his IBF and WBO lightweight crowns against Ali Funeka on February 14, 2009. On weigh-in however, Campbell was more than 2 pounds over the weight limit. As a result, he was removed of both titles.^[2] The fight still went on as scheduled, Funeka could have claimed the IBF and WBO titles with a victory. However, Campbell won a majority decision by the scores of 114-112, 115-111, and 113-113. Despite the win, Campbell was ineligible to regain the titles, which are now vacant. Campbell stated that he will be moving up to the 140 pound junior welterweight division after the bout.^[3][4]

Light welterweight

On August 1, 2009, Campbell took on 140 lbs. titlist Timothy Bradley. The Jacksonville native moved up to the light welterweight division after he failed to make the lightweight limit in his last fight against Ali Funeka. The WBO light welterweight title was at stake. The bout was held at the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, California.

The fight with Bradley only lasted three rounds after Campbell was unable to continue due to an internal eye injury caused by an unintentional headbutt from Bradley. Bradley was initially awarded a TKO victory by California referee David Mendoza.^[5] However, a replay showed that the injury was in fact caused by an accidental clash of heads, and should thus be ruled a no decision. Since then, the decision has been overruled to a No Contest after review by the California State Athletic Commission.

In December 2009 Campbell was granted a release from Don King Productions, and signed a new promotional contract with Golden Boy Promotions. Campbell's lead trainer is former world champion John David Jackson, and his business advisor is One Punch Productions.

Campbell fought Victor Ortíz on May 15, 2010 at the Madison Square Garden in New York. The former undisputed champion entered the ring as the underdog and eventually lost the bout by unanimous decision. On November 27, 2010, Campbell lost an eight round decision on the Juan Manuel Marquez undercard in Las Vegas to Walter Estrada, a journeyman whose record included only three wins over winless fighters in twelve bouts between 2008-2010. On November 29, 2010, Nate Campbell announced his retirement from boxing.

Comeback

On 21 April 2011 Nate came out of retirement to fight unbeaten Danny Garcia losing a Unanimous Decision.

Nate continued being active fighting a month later winning against Sherzod Nazarov in an 8 round UD. On September 25, 2011 Campbell lost to Khabib Allakhverdiyev.

On March 24, 2012 Nate won by TKO in 9 rounds in Dominican Republic against "Mermelada" Cayó.

On 27 April 2013 Campbell was defeated by Englishman Terry Flannigan in Sheffield, England, when the fight was stopped after 4 Rounds when Campbell pulled out when well behind on the scorecards.

Professional boxing record

External links

• Professional boxing record for Nate Campbell from BoxRec
• boxen-artur.de – Encyclopedia

References

1. "NATE CAMPBELL VACATES WBA TITLE". FIGHTHYPE. January 10, 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
2. Michael Marley (February 13, 2009). "Campbell's Florida Flop, Blows TWO World Titles On Scales!". Boxing Confidential. Archived from the original on February 15, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
3. Christ, Scott (2009-02-15). "Campbell guts one out against Funeka in Florida". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
4. Rafael, Dan (2009-02-13). "Campbell can't make weight for Funeka". ESPN. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
5. "Bradley Defends WBO Strap With Controversial Victory Over Campbell On SHOWTIME". East Side Boxing. 2009-08-02. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
6. "boxer: Nate Campbell". Box Rec. Retrieved 2010-05-16.