A clash between Devin Haney and Luke Campbell could be among the first fights staged in the United States by Matchroom after the coronavirus pandemic.
Eddie Hearn is eyeing up the match for Haney’s WBC lightweight title for one of his first behind-closed-doors shows in August or September.
Campbell had been due to face Javier Fortuna for the vacant WBC title in April, after the WBC had made Haney champion-in recess due to injury, before that show was scrapped by the US COVID-19 lockdown.
But the enforced lay-off caused led to the American demanding he be reinstated after declaring himself fit to fight. The WBC agreed and Campbell and Fortuna were matched for the interim world title, with the promise of a fight with Haney to the winner.
Now Hearn is looking at to give Campbell a straight shot at Haney as he pieces together the early stages of his Matchroom USA fights as part of DAZN’s late summer and fall schedule.
“Ideally I want to make Devin Haney against Ryan Garcia,” Hearn told krikya360.com. “I think that is a monstrous fight. But that might take a bit longer to be made, so if we can make Haney against Luke Campbell, that is a great fight.”
Hearn said that both Haney and Campbell had expressed an interest in facing each other.
“It’s a bit of a mess, really,” Hearn said. “Luke has been ordered to fight Javier Fortuna for the world title, now the interim world title, but because of the delay, Devin Haney is back and ready to go.
“I’d rather they fight each other. Luke seems up for it, Devin Haney seems up for it and that is a fight I will try and make for August or September.
“Luke is fit as a fiddle. He wants to go back in a big fight. Devin Haney will be one of the first guys back on the US side.”
Hearn is looking at Florida as a likely venue for Matchroom USA’s behind-closed-doors fights, which will likely commence at the start of August.
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for Boxing Scene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.