On the first day of August, we will see a fight between two warriors, whose names may not ring a bell to the general public, but are guaranteed top notch fighters. The fight will feature the ageless Nate Campbell who will battle it out with hot prospect Timothy Bradley for the latter’s WBO light welterweight title.  The 140-pound weight class might be headlined by the more recognizeable Manny Pacquiao, Ricky Hatton and Amir Khan - but make no mistake about it, Nate Campbell and Timothy Bradley are the real deal. Both can ground with the best of them.

The 37-year old Nate Campbell is a late bloomer. He started his professional boxing career at the age of 27. After winning his first twenty three fights, he lost to Joel Casamayor. This was followed by four more losses in a span of ten fights. He was dismissed by many who thought he was already washed up. But he proved his critics wrong by making a resurgence late in his career. His entertaining fight against Juan Diaz showed that he has gotten better after his slump in the middle of his career.

Campbell is indeed no pushover. He can mix it up. He also has a big right hand, which can connect to the head or to the body, with a devastating effect on his opponents. One thing that he has an advantage over the young Bradley is experience. He has fought better competition than the champion, and he will surely use his veteran smarts to outwit his opponent. But he has one thing going against him, which is his age. At 37, he has lost some speed in his last few matches. He has the skills, but the speed has subtly decreased. And that is a big hindrance when fighting a very active boxer like Bradley. He has to hurt Bradley and constantly look for the knock out.

The champion, Timothy Bradley, is unbeaten in 24 fights. In those fights, he has shown that he has the complete pacjage: All around skill, peed, conditioning and heart. He throws crisp-looking punches, but not much power behind those shots. But that does not stop him from slugging it out with his opponents.

His best bet of winning this fight is to outwork Campbell, which he can easily do. He is also the bigger man, being a natural light welter.  His size advantage, added with the age differential and speed factor, can net him the win in this fight.

Photo credit: Chris Miller