Neither Luke Campbell nor Derry Mathews can afford to lose, says Paul Smith

By Paul Smith, Boxer & Pundit

Luke Campbell will head into Derry Mathews' backyard on Saturday night and Liverpool's Paul Smith thinks it could be the fight of the night.

I think this is a real crossroads fight for both Luke Campbell and Derry Mathews.

If Derry wants to continue to box, he has to win and if Luke wants to reach the high expectations put on him when he turned pro, then he has to beat fighters like him - and do it well.

Once he had won that Olympic gold medal in 2012, Campbell was always going to be under scrutiny, but after losing to Yvan Mendy and then being put down in the first round by Argenis Mendez last time out, he really has to perform now.

Image: Derry Mathews will carry power from the beginning to the end, says Paul Smith

Derry has got the experience and has been around the block and that tends to work against most fighters. But I've got to say, I actually think Derry is better than he was before.

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I used to train with him about six or seven years ago and it is hard to put your finger on, but he just looks a better fighter. I am certainly better than I was in my twenties and it could be a mix of experience, more knowledge or just a new lease of life.

There's one thing simple about this fight: either Luke Campbell wins well, by out-boxing him and catching him with lots of shots, or Derry Mathews knocks him out.
Paul Smith

Mathews has been around long enough to also build up a decent fanbase and that means the Echo Arena will be on his side. All the crowd will back any Liverpool fighter on the card and that is going to be a real test for Luke.

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It is a bold move to go and fight in anyone's backyard, but that is what he needs to do and I like his attitude. Yes, he won the Olympic gold but he now needs to take on these tests, go into people's backyards, prove he is as good as we hope.

Campbell was put down in the first round of his last fight

Now he has been with Jorge Rubio for a while, I am expecting to see an improvement. Of course, we saw what happened with him and Amir Khan and Breidis Prescott and he is a good fighter.

It is always interesting to see where Campbell is and what is going on between trainer and fighter and I think this has the makings of the most intriguing fight of the night. 

Image: Campbell is showing the right attitude going to Liverpool

There is one thing simple about this fight: either Campbell wins well, by out-boxing him and catching him with lots of shots, or Derry knocks him out.

Derry's always had that power and we are now looking to see how good Luke's chin is. He could well take a shot better now and there is no one better to test it.

I am expecting it to be a cagey start and if Mathews catches him with one of those big shots early on, it could change the fight. But we could just as easily see Campbell dominating him from start to finish.

Watch Luke Campbell v Derry Mathews before Tony Bellew defends his WBC cruiserweight world title against BJ Flores live on Saturday night, from 8.00pm, on Sky Sports 2.

Image: Tale of the Tape - Campbell v Mathews is live on Sky Sports 2
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