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Campbell: We both won Olympic titles, but I’m not jealous of AJ’s success since. He’s earned the title ‘Superstar’
LUKE CAMPBELL insists there will be no jealousy, just pride, when his old Great Britain team-mate Anthony Joshua headlines another sell-out show at Wembley Stadium this month.
The two men both scooped gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics, Campbell at bantamweight and Joshua at super-heavy.
But while Joshua has gone on to become world champion and, for many, Campbell included, the face of their sport, the 30-year-old lightweight is still searching for that elusive first world crown.
Campbell, who was beaten by Jorge Linares when he fought for the WBA world title a year ago, faces Yvan Mendy on the undercard of Joshua’s defence against Alexander Povetkin on September 22. And if he wins the world title eliminator against Frenchman Mendy, the only other man to have beaten him, then he will be in line for a shot at WBC champ Mikey Garcia.
Campbell (below) said: “Nowadays, everybody looks at what everybody else has got and what they’re doing, and that’s all down to social media.
“But when you actually look at your own life, I wouldn’t change a single thing.
“Everybody is on their own path. I’ve never had it easy in boxing, not from day one.
“All I’ve asked is for me to be on the ball, 100 per cent and dedicated. So for all Joshua has gone on to achieve as a heavyweight, there’s no way I’m jealous of somebody else. “If anything I only admire him – for the person he is and the way he acts with everybody. “He’s a superstar. He takes it very well and he’s a great role model. He’s the face of boxing and if it wasn’t him earning all that money it’d be someone else, so why not let it be him? “He works hard, he’s dedicated and he’s a nice person. I’m still dreaming of achieving what he has achieved. “I want to go on and be a star because this is what I live to do.” Campbell, who has teamed up with trainer Shane McGuigan, will move a step closer to reaching his own personal peak if he can beat Mendy. He added: “I want to clean Mendy off my record and then I want to clean Linares off my record, too.
“I want to be undefeated again. I definitely want to right the wrong on my record with Mendy.
“He has got to No.1 in the WBC rankings and I’m at No.2, so it’s the top two fighting for the final eliminator.
“And I’m very confident you’re going to see the best of Luke Campbell on September 22.
“I feel like I have come on in leaps and bounds with Shane.
“I’ve been looking the best I’ve looked, feeling the best I’ve felt, and I’m ready to put a show on.
“No one has seen me anywhere near what I’m capable of doing.
“In this fight you are going to start seeing what I’m capable of doing and what I can go on to achieve.”