It took the first defeat of his professional career for Nick Campbell to appreciate that the “winner stays on” mentality isn’t something restricted to the pool table down the pub.
The Scot’s journey through boxing’s heavyweight division suffered its first bump in the road in December when he was stopped by Steve Robinson in the fourth round of their bout in Bournemouth.
Campbell believes the defeat will not be damaging to his prospects in the long run as the former Glasgow Warriors forward looks to push on towards the elite end of the sport.
The loss, if anything, has served as a useful learning experience on what he needs to improve on if he is to keep working his way up the ranks.
But while the Jersey-based Glaswegian is not overly upset by losing the “oh” from his record, the defeat did have external ramifications, with promoter BOXXER terminating their association with Campbell, bringing with it an end to having all his bouts broadcast live on Sky Sports.
The 33-year-old has also moved on from manager Mark Dunlop and into a new agreement with Lee Eaton who will co-manage Campbell alongside Billy Nelson, who also becomes his new trainer.
All that change would be disruptive for many fighters and a wounding blow to morale to some. Campbell, though, is philosophical about recent events as he looks to get going with the next chapter of his career, starting with a fight back in Glasgow next month.
“It’s all change for me but I’m seeing it as a positive thing,” he says. “My last manager Mark terminated my contract after my last fight. I had moved to train with Billy before that had happened and then Mark decided he didn’t want to manage me any more.
“He was a good manager and got me some really good opportunities so I don’t really want to say too much more than that. Lee and Billy have a good relationship and decided they want to co-manage me. So I’m managed by Lee and coached by Billy, who is also helping on the management side of things too.
“At the moment I’m finished with BOXXER but never say never. I never left them on bad terms or fell out with them. It’s just the winner-stays-on mentality in that environment. I need to earn the right to get back on that stage and that’s what I’m planning on doing.
“I’m extremely grateful for the opportunities BOXXER gave me and hopefully in the upcoming months or over the next year I might get another chance to work with them again and get back on Sky Sports. But there are other good promoters out there and I’m a free agent on that front so I’m willing to listen to anybody out there. And if the right opportunity comes along, I’ll take it.
“I knew what I was signing up to when I turned professional so I’ve not been too disheartened by what’s happened. I’ve been a professional athlete for a long time. I can think back to my rugby days and not getting picked for a team or a squad. You can’t take it too personally. You have to try to improve to become the best version of yourself and look to get back to where you want to be.”
Teaming up with Eaton, who runs Let’s Go Management, and Nelson is no hardship either.
The Greengairs-based trainer was pivotal in Ricky Burns’ early career success and is now working with another world title prospect in Martin Bakole.
“I’m travelling between Jersey and Glasgow now for training,” explains Campbell. “When I’m in camp, I’m going to be training with Billy out near Airdrie at his gym.
“Billy’s a great coach and a good teacher and that’s what I need at this stage. That was the reason for linking up with him. Billy was willing to work with me so having him in my corner at future fights will be quite a big thing. I thought it was a no-brainer to be honest.
“I’d sparred with big Martin a few times previously and now when I’m in Scotland we’re in the gym together every day. We’re getting rounds in regularly and I’m learning from him all the time. Even on the days when I’m not sparring I’m still in the gym and picking up bits and pieces every day.
“He’s ranked No.1 in the world by the WBA and in the top 10 with most of the other governing bodies so it’s good to learn from a guy like that and try to pick up as much as I possibly can. I won’t go far wrong if I can try to follow in Martin’s footsteps.”
