Vasyl Lomachenko vs Luke Campbell: How unshaken challenger is processing task of upsetting mythical Ukrainian

It is just after 9am on a bright, late-August morning and Luke Campbell is sitting in the upstairs function room of a south-west London pub explaining how he will beat the finest boxer on the planet.

“We can bring everything to the table,” he says as the early morning sun filters in through the windows. “In the back of my mind I'm just thinking, 'I'm going to hit you hard and I'm going to hurt you'. That's all I'm thinking.”

The wider thinking is, however, that Campbell will need perhaps the greatest performance by any British boxer in history to beat Vasyl Lomachenko at The O2 on Saturday. The exquisite Ukrainian is a three-weight world champion after just 14 professional fights and brings his WBA and WBO belts to the banks of the Thames this weekend.

His promoter Bob Arum, no stranger to hyperbole, has suggested that 'Loma' is the best fighter since another of his clients, Muhammad Ali. He might be right. Campbell joked that he has been sparring three men at once in a bid to prepare for the dazzling angles the little wizard routinely conjures when he's in full flight. It says much that some outlets have taken the quip seriously.

But Campbell, now 31 but still as fresh-faced as he was when he clinched gold at London 2012, insists he does not know all that much about Lomachenko. Again, it's a claim that should not be taken too seriously.

“I haven't really watched any of his fights really, only highlights,” Campbell says, fooling nobody. “I just leave that to [trainer] Shane [McGuigan] and he will tell me what to do, I don't particularly watch much.

“I saw the highlights of the Jorge Linares fight when he was knocked down. It was a beautifully timed shot and there wasn't a lot in it, it was just the timing of the shot.

“But I still believe Linares was weight drained for that fight and after three rounds he stopped moving his feet.”

Although the final stages of a fight promotion are usually about one last big sell, Campbell is instead clearly keen to put a pin in the hype. He might be the main event in a pay-per-view event, in front of a sell-out crowd, fighting for both of Lomachenko's belts and the vacant WBC title but the man from Hull insists it is business as usual.

“It just feels like I'm getting ready for another fight,” he says. “Because that's exactly what it is. It's just another fight.”

When it is put to Campbell that this is clearly something a little bit different to his 22 previous outings, he shrugs: “Is it?”

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The truth is, after years of silent graft, hard fights and personal tragedy, Campbell has finally assumed centre stage. He admits that a stint training in Miami under Jorge Rubio, which meant he spent around seven months of every year in America, left him feeling like British boxing's 'forgotten man'. He turned professional amid much fanfare after his gold in London and threatened to become a bona-fide cross-over star when he signed up for Dancing on Ice. As it happened, he was the first to leave.

A surprise 2015 defeat to Yvan Mendy would be harder to take for Campbell, who had raced to 12-0 without too much resistance. His reputation as one of British boxing's hottest prospects was damaged badly that night, incidentally at The O2, but he has fought back in the four years since.

His only other world title shot, against the brilliant Venezuelan Linares, ended in defeat but his preparation for that incredibly valiant split decision defeat had been rocked by the death of his father, Bernard, just a fortnight before fight night.

“A lot is different now compared to the Linares fight,” he says. “I'm happy, I've had a great training camp and I've got Shane in my corner. I'm happy.

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“I feel like I'm going from strength to strength, I'm in a great place. Physically, mentally, in the gym, training, everything. Right now I'm coming into my best and I feel like these next couple of years, I will be in my zone.

“I'm settled and I feel like I have a solid team around me for the first time in my professional career. I'm happy in the gym and happy I get to go home to my family every weekend.”

The link-up with McGuigan, whose gym is just a short walk from the Wandsworth pub in which he sits, appears to have rejuvenated Campbell. Although he lives in London during training camp, he now spends far more time with his wife Lynsey and young sons Leo and Lincoln.

The capital, generally, holds happy memories for the southpaw, given his glory at the Olympics as well as a string of professional victories, including vengeance against Mendy at Wembley 12 months back.

However, London has proved an equally fruitful hunting ground for Lomachenko, who was also a gold medallist in 2012, albeit in the weight class above Campbell. Given the Brit's significant height and reach advantage it now seems absurd that he clinched gold in the 56kg bantamweight division while the Ukrainian did the business as a 60kg lightweight.

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Now, almost exactly seven years on, just a couple of miles west of the ExCeL Arena where they both became Olympic champions, they are ready to meet at the pinnacle of the professional game.

“The athlete's village is a big place and I just kept myself to myself,” Campbell says. “I wasn't really looking out for anyone or keeping an eye on anyone, I was just concentrating on me.

“But I've always thought from turning pro about the possibility of a fight between us both and here it is. I've always thought about it and I've got it.

“He's ranked No.1 pound-for-pound for a reason. I think he's the very best out there at the minute but that's exactly where I want to be.

“Everybody on the outside would see it as a massive upset but for us on the inside, who know what we have gone through, it wouldn't be an upset to us.”