According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, former lightweight champion Nate Campbell has retired after his disappointing loss to Walter Estrada this past Saturday night in Las Vegas as part of the Juan Manuel Marquez – Michael Katsidis undercard.
“First of all, I want to let everyone know that I’m fine. But after thinking about Saturday’s fight, I know it’s time for me to hang it up,” Campbell said in a statement. “I’ve reached the point where I can still see the openings, but I just can’t get my shots there in time. In this business, a tenth of a second delay is too much. And in no way do I mean any disrespect to Estrada. He came to fight and won the fight fair and square, but I’m not supposed to struggle in fights like this. And if I do struggle in fights like this, then what would that mean for me against a top tier fighter?
“I didn’t enter this sport to be anyone’s opponent. I entered this sport to become a world champion. I am fortunate that I was able to accomplish that goal. I would have liked to continue on to win titles in other divisions. However, when your body tells you that it’s time to go, then it’s time to go.”
“I had hoped that the back rehab I went through after my injury in training camp for the Ortiz fight would have made a difference,” Campbell said. “However, mobility obviously wasn’t my only issue, and the rehab couldn’t fix my age. As we get older, things slow down a bit, and the 135 and 140 divisions just don’t work well for a 38-year-old.”
Terry Trekas, Campbell’s longtime adviser and close friend, believes Campbell’s retirement will stick, even though boxing is littered with fighters who make ill-advised comebacks.
“I’m extremely confident it will stick,” Trekas said. “I don’t think he’ll ever get the idea he can compete at the level he wants to and used to be able to. I hope someone doesn’t offer him money to be a stepping stone and that his financial circumstances don’t make him consider it. There’s nothing wrong with being an opponent because the sport can’t survive without opponents, but I don’t want to see that for Nate and Nate doesn’t want to see that for himself.”
“Nate came up out of nowhere at an age where nobody was interested in him and went against the grain the entire way and wound up winning three world titles. In my mind it’s a great story,” Trekas said. “I would liked to have seen it end a little differently. The best part of his career got wasted with his issues with King. It might have been different had he been able to stay active. But it was a success story. He went from being a nobody to being champ of the world. That’s in the record books forever. Nobody can ever take it away.”
Said Campbell, “I would really like to publicly thank Golden Boy for still believing in me after the Ortiz fight. It’s no secret that I’ve had many issues with promoters over the years, but if I had one regret in this sport, it’s that I wasn’t with Golden Boy at the time of the Diaz fight. I think the last three years would have played out significantly different had I been with them the whole time.”
“I’ve got no complaints,” he said. “I came into this sport as a nobody at 28-years-old, ultimately appeared on NBC, ESPN, Showtime, HBO, and PPV, managed to win three world titles in the process, and made a few bucks along the way. Not too shabby for a wise-ass kid from Jacksonville.”
