LUKE OF A CHAMPION
AJ & me won Olympic gold. I’m not jealous of Ant... he’s a superstar and my inspiration
Tom Hopkinson
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 on September 22.
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.
Path
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 said: “Nowadays, everybody looks at what everybody else has got and what they’re doing, and that’s all down to social media.
“People look at other people’s lives and think, ‘I want that’.
“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, I’ve never asked for an easy run. 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. I admire him for the person he is and the way he acts with everybody.
“AJ’S a superstar, let’s get it right. 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.
Dreaming
“We’re all on different paths and 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 insisted: “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.