Boxing journalist Dan Rafael believes Luke Campbell poses a serious challenge for Ryan Garcia.
Speaking on DAZN’s "Boxing with Chris Mannix," Rafael said, “I think it’s a serious challenge, no question.
“Luke Campbell may not be a world champion at the moment, but he gave, in a world title fight ... he travelled from the U.K. to California to fight Linares in a very close fight. He lost, but it was super close.
“Even though his next title opportunity against [Vasily] Lomachenko was with a hometown crowd, he lost again. It was fairly wide on the scorecard so it looks like a blowout, but if you watch each round he provided Lomachenko with some competition. It’s hard to find too many guys who have done that.”
On Wednesday, Matchroom tweeted that an agreement had been reached for a Garcia-Campbell fight at a date to be determined.
Rafael explained why he was so excited for the occasion and for what it might hold in the future, with Devin Haney waiting in the wings for the victor.
“Luke’s a dynamite technician. He was a great amateur.
“The great thing is the winner of the fight sets up a great fight beyond that, and has the interim title. That fighter will become the No. 1 challenger to fight Devin Haney, the WBC champion.
“They’re all associated with DAZN in the U.S., so there shouldn’t be anything holding it back.”
You can watch the full interview conversation with Mannix and Rafael (which took place before the official Garcia-Campbell announcement) above, or on DAZN's YouTube channel.