Vasyl Lomachenko vs Luke Campbell: A fight that looks set to bring the very best out of Ukraine’s dark magician

On Saturday night at the O2, a venue now stained deep with a dozen years of great boxing memories, Campbell will dance from the hidden corridors and fight Lomachenko for three versions of the world lightweight title. It will be a night to remember

In boxing’s ancient chronicle of miracles the men ice their bruised faces, enjoy their glory, gaze back on the night they shocked the world and wonder if anybody new is coming their way.

On Saturday night at the O2, a venue now stained deep with a dozen years of great boxing memories, Luke Campbell will dance from the hidden corridors and fight Vasyl Lomachenko for three versions of the world lightweight title. If Campbell wins he will have altered the underdog narrative, ruined form, sense, heart and head predictions, destroyed history, created marvels and joined the chronicles in style. Campbell will be the king of the O2, it’s that simple.

Campbell is the number one contender, a natural lightweight, a gold medal winner from the London Olympics and has the boxing brain to make the night difficult in a fight where the bookies – Lomachenko is 1-16 – have been brutally honest. A magician’s wand is arguably the crucial, missing item Campbell will need for a miracle to happen inside a boxing ring by the Thames. Lomachenko, you see, is not a normal fighting man and perhaps the wand would need to be made from iron.

The two boxers have been together at amateur tournaments for over 15 years, winning medals, queuing for the doctor, waiting to step on the scales, in the often ugly melee for bananas and porridge at breakfast during events in Russian, Uzbek, Azerbaijan and Kazak cities. Both won gold medals at the European championships in 2008, the Olympics in 2012 and reached the final of the world championship in Baku in 2011 – Lomachenko took gold, just one of his 396 amateur wins, and Campbell silver. This is a fight of stunning pedigree.

Campbell never wanted or needed Lomachenko for this world title fight; the Briton was the number one contender for the WBC bauble and when it became vacant there were other softer, easier options. However, the WBC, based since 1963 in Mexico City, wanted the world’s finest fighter in their orbit and sanctioned Lomachenko, who holds the WBA and WBO lightweight titles, against Campbell. The boxer from Hull never wanted it, but he never turned away.

“Anybody can get hit and hurt,” Campbell said. “Lomachenko has been dropped, people have given him problems in fights – I will show him no respect and I will hit him hard and I will hurt him.” Campbell, like Anthony Yarde last week in Chelyabinsk against Sergey Kovalev, has won the fight in his head. “Luke is bullet-proof in the mind,” offered Shane McGuigan, the trainer in charge of solving the vast box of Lomachenko mysteries.

The Lomachenko dossier is short and sweet, a series of fights designed to undermine all of boxing’s ancient rules; Lomachenko won his first world title in his third fight, his second in his seventh fight and his third in his twelfth fight. He has travelled across nine pounds in weight, still looks slight for a lightweight, but his ring magic has left grown men, unbeaten world champions and former Olympic gold medal winners, in tears. Four men have simply quit against him, walked back to their corners, dropped their heads in shame and pain and surrendered. His record is now 13 wins from 14 fights and 13 have been for world titles. There is no other boxer in any version of history with figures like that.

His only loss was in his second bout, a world title fight when his opponent, Orlando Salido, a veteran of 56 fights, forfeited his right to the title by intentionally weighing heavy to gain a critical edge. Salido then spent 12 rounds using every foul he had acquired on his journey through the darkest of arts in Mexico’s grittiest gyms on a green Lomachenko. It was still a disputed split decision, and Salido, good job complete, vanished. The loss made Lomachenko even more ruthless and that is a side of him neglected by opponents. He also hits harder than anybody other than his battered opponents know; his power is constantly dismissed.

The two fights ahead of this weekend's fight (Action Images via Reuters)

Campbell could hear the last bell, which is something only four men have managed, if he is cautious, concerned with survival and not victory. It is a fight where taking risks, and taking them early, is essential. Lomachenko will never fall victim to skilled boxing, but he could be a victim to pressure from a much bigger man. There is serious talk in the Lomachenko business that his expansion through the weight divisions has reached optimum a little sooner than expected and that he is really still only a featherweight. That is good news from a frontline of negatives for Campbell, who has two inches in height and six inches in reach to his advantage and has smart feet. However, Lomachenko has moves that nobody has ever seen, moves that men in velvet cloaks once called black magic.

On Saturday night at the O2 Lomachenko might just have to be at his very best, the finest we have seen from a boxer now being mentioned by some of the sport’s most reasonable voices in the same breath as the greatest of all time. Lomachenko is in many ways scripting his very own chronicle of miracles and against such sorcery, Luke Campbell staggers into view. It will be a night to remember, Lomachenko will have to really fight to win. Campbell will need some magic of his own.