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Luke Campbell would oblige Mikey Garcia's desire to fight in the UK

Luke Campbell is not fazed by Mikey Garcia if he has to face him to become a world champion by the end of the year.

The Hull lightweight takes on Jairo Lopez on the undercard of Gavin McDonnell's world title fight in Hull, on February 25, live on Sky Sports.

Campbell's WBC Silver title will be on the line and the 29-year-old knows a win will move him a step closer to fighting for the body's world strap, now owned by hard-hitting Garcia who has told Sky Sports about his plan to fight in the UK.

 

The Olympic gold medalist watched Garcia take the title from Dejan Zlaticanin from his training base in Miami and admits it was "absolutely brutal" but insists he would be happy facing him to achieve his goal and win a world title in 2017.

"Whatever route or plan they lay out, I will take," he told Sky Sports.

"I am confident in myself that I will be champion. I did watch that fight. Mikey Garcia is a big name over here, and rightly so, he's a three-weight world champion which is a massive achievement.

 

"He performed brilliantly that night and got an absolutely brutal knockout against a very strong opponent.

"I do believe that guy was slightly made for him, in styles. He was walking on to everything - not the best game-plan to walk in in straight lines and show no head movement in front of a big puncher who can box, and has speed and power.

"I thought it was made for him really, but he is a brilliant fighter and hopefully down the line, who knows?"

Promoter Eddie Hearn admits that Garcia could take on the winner of the WBA lightweight title rematch between Jorge Linares and Anthony Crolla, with the former sat ringside in Las Vegas to see the WBC title change hands.

But he also refuses to rule out Campbell staying on the WBC path and believes the Hull man might have the best chance of all 135lbs fighters to beat the three-weight world champion.

"It's a tough route," Hearn said. "Garcia looked sensational. The winner of Linares-Crolla is supposed to fight Mikey Garcia, a huge fight, very tough fight. Again, it seems like everywhere you go in those lower divisions at the moment, they are all tough fights.

"Look at the featherweight division, show me an easy belt to win? Look at the super-featherweight division, which is even harder, show me an easy belt to win? Lightweight is the same. If Campbell goes down the WBA route, he's after Linares, who is a great fighter as well. But Garcia looked really good.

"It's a great fight and actually and, of all the lightweights out there, I think Campbell is probably one of the best styles to do well against Garcia.

"Technically very good, very sharp, he's not just going to walk in carelessly to shots. Garcia is not really going to walk him down. I just think technically that's a very good fight - so is Crolla against Garcia, or Linares against Garcia."

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