Jorge Linares vs. Luke Campbell was a professional boxing match contested on 23 September 2017, for the WBA and The Ring lightweight championship. The bout took place at The Forum in Inglewood, California, United States, and was broadcast on HBO's Boxing After Dark in the United States and Sky Sports in the United Kingdom.
Background
The fight was ordered by the World Boxing Association (WBA) on 21 July 2017, as Linares was required to make a mandatory defence of his title within nine months of winning it from Anthony Crolla in September 2016. Campbell had become the mandatory challenger after stopping former interim world champion Darleys Pérez in April 2017. A deal was reached on 27 July for the two to meet at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
At the time of the bout, Linares, a three-division world champion from Venezuela, held a professional record of 42–3 (27 knockouts) and was recognized as the WBA and The Ring lightweight champion. Campbell, an Olympic gold medalist from the 2012 London Games representing Great Britain, entered with a record of 17–1 (14 knockouts) and was ranked No. 1 by the WBA at lightweight. Linares entered the fight as the 1/5 favourite.
The fight
Linares dropped Campbell with a straight right hand to the head in round two. Between rounds five and nine, Campbell took control of the fight, with Linares later stating he reduced his offensive output to avoid getting hurt. In the championship rounds, Linares regained control. At the conclusion of 12 rounds, one judge scored the bout 115–113 for Campbell, while the remaining two judges scored it 115–112 and 114–113 in favour of Linares, giving him a split decision victory.
CompuBox statistics showed Linares landed 140 of 414 punches thrown (33.8%), while Campbell landed 141 of 524 thrown (26.9%). ESPN scored the fight 115–112 for Linares, and HBO's unofficial ringside scorer Harold Lederman scored it 116–111 for Linares.
Aftermath
Following the bout, Linares praised Campbell's performance, noting that Campbell's status as an Olympic champion was well earned. Linares expressed interest in future fights against Mikey Garcia and Vasyl Lomachenko. Campbell, who believed he had won the fight, stated that he felt he had out-classed Linares. It was later revealed that Campbell's father, Bernard, who had been diagnosed with cancer in 2014, had died two weeks before the bout.
The fight drew an average of 687,000 viewers on HBO, peaking at 726,000.
