LUKE CAMPBELL should be walking out to fulfill his fighting destiny on Saturday but instead he’s stuck at home tinkling the ivories and muy frustrado.
The 2012 Olympic golden boy had his third crack at a lightweight world title booked, against dangerous Javier Fortuna, for Maryland USA before COVID-19 struck
Campbell says wife Lynsey hasn’t got bored of having him at home… yet
Instead, the lockdown has him rooted to the family home in Hull, as frustrated with his Spanish and piano lessons as he is with the block on his career.
The upside for the baby-faced 32-year-old is that his wife Lynsey is not sick of having him around the house – yet. And their baby grand piano is finally getting some use.
The self-improving father of two told SunSport: “I have seen a lot of people complaining about being bored at home but with training and homeschooling and playing with the kids, I am non-stop.
“I am trying to learn the piano and Spanish on top of that, I want to grow.
“I am learning the piano just because we have one. I bought my wife a white baby grand piano as a present, it’s a beautiful instrument and she plays it occasionally but it’s just sat there otherwise so I am trying to learn off of YouTube videos.
“These are things I have always put off until after boxing but while we have this time, it seems like the ideal opportunity.
“Spanish has been hard, I have a couple of textbooks, but I get frustrated at having to start at the beginning with the alphabet and vowels. Then I remember that although I speak English OK, I can barely read or write it!
“But my wife said to me, the other day, that usually when I am home for this long she starts getting sick of me, but it hasn’t happened this time, or yet. So I will take that as a compliment.”
Hull’s 2012 Olympic golden boy had a third world title shot booked for SaturdayCredit: PA:Press Association
Campbell is usually training at Shane McGuigan’s new base in Kent, alongside stablemates Chris Billham-Smith, Anthony Fowler and the very untidy Lawrence Okolie.
When SunSport last visited their shared house on the university campus, the young cruiserweight’s dirty dishes and food wrappers were piled high and veteran Campbell seemed stunned by his style.
But the month apart, juggling Lincoln and Leo’s home homeschooling and his training, has left him pining for old flatmates and dreaming of the lockdown being lifted.
He said: “This is the longest I have spent at home for ages and my two boys seem to be really enjoying it.
“It’s a massive change, though, having to do home schooling here, away from their friends and teachers so we are all adapting.
“I am reading with them and having a go at maths, I am a waste of time at English but I am trying to get stuck in.
“It will be amazing when the call comes to say the lockdown is over and the fight is on for my dream. As messy as it can get down in Kent, I love being in the house with Chris, Anthony and even Lawrence.
“I reckon his stuff will still be piled up around the kitchen when we get back. I don’t know how happy his poor mum will be to have him back.
“Hopefully he has got his own place now and he can do all his own washing up and cleaning.”
Campbell has had to pick up the pieces after failed world title bids against elite multi-weight champions Jorge Linares and, at the O2 in August, pound-for-pound No1 Vasiliy Lomachenko.
And he believes coronavirus trying to wreck his third shot at boxing immortality will only make his success taste sweeter.
He said: “Winning a world title at my third attempt, right after the coronavirus, will just add to my story.
“I have never once had it easy, as an amateur and pro, and I didn’t want it easy now.
Southpaw lightweight Campbell was in a great 2019 fight with Vasiliy LomachenkoCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
“The loss to Lomachenko will be the making of me because I made adjustments for that fight and then I learned even more in there with him.
“It took me a while to mature, when I was 21 I probably had the mentality of a 15-year-old.
“Right now I am 32 and I feel 25, at my peak. I am the best I have ever been now and I cannot wait to show it.”
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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
