Somebody, quick, call Nate Campbell?s insurance company.
A huge rock, no make that a boulder just came crashing through the living room of the glass house that erstwhile FORMER multiple belt world lightweight champion Campbell lives in.
In one of boxing?s most historic ironies, after he viciously criticized Joan Guzman and his entire team when Guzman did not make the lightweight limit of 135 pounds for their scheduled fight last September in Biloxi, it was Campbell who blew it on the official scales Friday in Sunrise, Fl.
Campbell first weighed 138 pounds for his defense of the WBO and IBF titles against little-known South African Ali Funeka Saturday night (part of an HBO Boxing After Dark tripleheader). He and his entourage quickly left the scene and were given a bit over two hours to come back and reweigh.
Sometime at or about 5:30 pm, ET, Campbell took to the scales for a second and final chance to salvage his precious title belts.
And then Campbell suffered the physical failure that Guzman experienced in Mississippi. Guzman weighed in at 138.5 pounds and could not lose any more weight. He and his team went to a local hospital where he was treated for dehydration and Guzman-Campbell was called off for medical reasons.
On his second try, Campbell weighed 137.5 pounds. That?s right, in two plus hours, the 37-year-old fighter was only able to shed a half pound.
?It just goes to show you that God don?t like ugly,? Guzman manager Jose Nunez told Boxingconfidential. ?Those scales turned into the scales of justice because what goes around come around. Everything that went around about Guzman just came back to haunt Campbell.
?Nate and some dirtbags around him made some personal, uncalled for comments about Guzman not making weight. They acted like Joan did it on purpose, that it was a planned and willful failure when all it was a human error. Maybe Campbell and his crew will shut their big mouths now.?
As BC?s John Chavez reported earlier Friday, internet bookies had made Campbell a surprisingly small betting favorite over the lean and lanky Funeka. Those odds may shift even more now.
?What a zoo! Campbell looked very dry, bone dry, on his second attempt,? promoter Lou DiBella said. ?How could he try to take weight off for more than two hours and only lose a half pound??
You have to wonder if his age hampered him or whether he did not give it the old college try.
The Campbell-Funeka bout goes on, however, and the two titles are now vacant. If Funeka wins the bout, he captures both belts.
If the drained Campbell wins, he just becomes the top contender for his old titles. He cannot reclaim those belts by beating Funeka.
Big Gary Shaw, who co-promotes Funeka along with South Africa native Cedric Kushner, said the Campbell camp generated some bad karma.
?They were trashing Guzman and Funeka at the press conference on Thursday,? Shaw said. ?They talked really dirty and very boorishly. I guess Guzman and his guys must be laughing now.?
Actually, I don?t think anybody should find it humorous when fighter?s careers and lives are at stake.
But there is no escaping the irony here.
The Blowup In Biloxi has morphed into the Snafu In Sunrise.
In Biloxi, Showtime was an innocent victim. In Florida it?s HBO taking a hit.
Anyone care to bet me that the cable TV paymasters won?t immediately start putting weigh in failure financial penalties into their contracts with promoters?
That?s what may happen. Promoters will wind up picking up the tab because fighters and their trainers/nutrition gurus and the rest do not hand le their jobs in a professional manner.
I guess with that unplanned air conditioning in his glass house Campbell is fortunate that he lives in Jacksonville.
But those summers can be humid and steamy. Tinkle, tinkle, went Campbell’s windows.
