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Luke Campbell of Great Britain, who came into the Olympics as the #3 bantamweight rated by AIBA, is now an Olympic champion.
Campbell got to the finals with a 20-11 decision over Satoshi Shimizu of Japan. And he showed some superior boxing skills in this one. The pattern was very clear. Nevin, the shorter man, was trying to close the distance and land punches in close and also to the body, while Campbell was moving, throwing wide, and doing a lot of slapping.
Campbell did operate using full advantage of his height, and took the first round by a 5-3 score. Nevin made a comeback in the second round, winning it by a 5-4 tally. In the third round, Campbell was using his reach with great effectiveness, and at one point he landed a left hook to the side of Nevin’s head, scoring a knockdown.
A knockdown in amateur boxing does not necessarily count for more than any other clean punch, so Nevin did not suffer from that blow. But it was nonetheless indicative of the kind of round it was.
The third round was scored 5-3 for Campbell, and he didn’t need that to create the decisive margin. The final rendering was 14-11 in favor of Campbell, who has now won the rubber match between the two. Nevin had won the first one by a considerable margin, while Campbell took a decision that was decided by the “countback” system the last time around at the World Championships.
