Nevin and Campbell poised for tight Olympic boxing final
Published:This evening’s Olympic bantamweight boxing final between Ireland’s John Joe Nevin and Britain’s Luke Campbell looks set to be a thrillingly tight encounter with both boxers priced at 5/6 to claim gold.
Campbell put in arguably one of the fights of the tournament so far to beat Satoshi Shimizu in his semi final in convincing fashion.
The Hull fighter came through to win 20-11 and, apart from an incredibly scrappy opening round, never looked in any danger against the Japanese.
He landed a couple of brilliant left hand punches in the second before showing his fitness in the third against an opponent who clearly couldn’t live with the pace of the 24-year-old.
Nevin was similarly stylish in his victory and continued his brilliant form with an incredibly classy victory against 2011 World Champion Lazaro Alvarez.
The Cuban was favourite going into the bout but Nevin provided some moments of brilliance to see off his opponent 19-14.
It wasn’t as convincing a win for the Irishman and his tougher fight may be something to take into consideration when looking who to back in what promises to be an extremely close fight.
The last time they met in a major tournament, it was Campbell who prevailed, winning their 2011 World Championship semi final on countback. The Englishman did go on to lose to Alvarez in the final though, showing once again how finely poised this fight is.
The Brit can’t even rely on the vocal home support with Irish fans flocking to get the chance to see their man claim Ireland’s second gold medal of this London Olympics.
It’s going to be close but Nevin – who has been consistently brilliant en route to the final – may just be the man to back in this bout.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
