Luke Campbell has warned world champion Jorge Linares that he will not allow him to chalk up a hat-trick of victories over British fighters.
by Simon Crawford
The two appear to be on a collision course after Campbell won his WBA world lightweight title final eliminator by impressively stopping Darleys Perez at Wembley last weekend.
Tokyo-based Venezuelan Linares - a three-weight world champion - ripped the WBA strap away from Manchester's Anthony Crolla back in September and won a subsequent rematch in March.
He also stopped Londoner Kevin Mitchell just under two years ago, but 2012 Olympic gold medallist Campbell is confident he can restore British pride.
Linares was at ringside in London on Saturday night and Campbell told sportinglife.com: "I told Linares I'm ready. He's a great champion who I have been watching for many years.
"But I warned him 'you won't beat a third Englishman' - he's had his fun with two but not with this one.
"To be the best you have to beat the best and that's exactly what I'm going to do. I believe in myself, in my ability and I'm improving with every fight so I would happily face him next.
"Put the pressure on me and I will perform. I believe I'm already better than some of the world champions out there so I need to prove that.
"Let's move on now - I'm No 1 in the WBA rankings, two or three in the WBC so we're getting there.
"Lightweight is a tough divison. You have Linares and Mikey Garcia who are both three-weight world champions so they've got what I'm still working towards.
"Manchester's Terry Flanagan is a good champion, has defended his belt a lot but no one knows him which is sad really. I want to be known for what I'm doing and I think I'm on the right track."
Hull southpaw Campbell, 29, controlled his fight against Colombian Perez, who drew and was then beaten by Crolla back in 2015.
Perez was rocked in the eighth by a looping left hand that sent him staggering back and in the ninth he pulled out after complaining of an arm injury.
"It was exactly what I wanted - I got the rounds in against someone who was awkward, smart and patient," said Campbell (17-1, 14KOs).
"He's been in there with some top fighters so it was good for me to go in there and outsmart him and break him down bit by bit. I made a couple of silly mistakes which I'll correct, but it was a good victory for me.
"The plan was to do a little bit more each round, keep pressing and keep moving him round. He's a strong guy and I didn't realise how long his reach was.
"Our styles didn't gel that well so I had to be cleverer than him. No fighter wants to see the fight end like that, you want to end with him on the floor or my arm being raised having clearly won on points but it is what it is."
