Luke Campbell

Luke Campbell (born 27 September 1987) is a British politician, former professional boxer and Olympic Gold Medallist, who has served as the inaugural mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire since 6 May 2025, representing Reform UK. He competed as a professional boxer from 2013 to 2021, where he was also known by the nickname Cool Hand.

As an amateur, Campbell won a gold medal at the 2008 European Championships, silver at the 2011 World Championships, and gold at the 2012 Olympics, all in the bantamweight division. He was also a contestant on the eighth series of Dancing on Ice in 2013, reaching the final and finishing in third place.

Boxing career

Amateur career

Senior ABA titles

Campbell competed for St. Paul's Amateur Boxing Club in Hull, winning the English senior ABA bantamweight title in 2007 and retaining in 2008 after beating Gareth Smith 23–1 in the final.

2008 European Championships

He represented England at the 2008 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Liverpool. At the Championships, Campbell defeated Olympic bronze medallist Veaceslav Gojan of Moldova in the quarterfinals and Denis Makarov of Germany in the semi-finals before facing the experienced Detelin Dalakliev of Bulgaria in the final.

After four rounds the Bulgarian levelled the scores in the fight to 5 each after he scored a point in the last two seconds of the fight. The decision then went to countback and Campbell was awarded the title making Campbell the first Englishman to win a European amateur title since 1961.

2010 Four Nations Challenge

Following his successful return, following a year long sabbatical to recover from tendon surgery, to International competition at the WBC Night Of Champions in Cardiff in July, Luke started his 2012 London Olympics preparations by securing gold at the Four Nations Challenge in Sheffield.

On the Saturday Luke, who convincingly won his Featherweight (57 kg) fight by an 11–5 points margin over China's Jun Tan at the WBC Night Of Champions, continued his winning ways by beating Kazakhstan's Shulakov Madi by 6 – 4 in the semi-final of the Four Nations Challenge.

In Sunday's final Luke again faced Jun Tan from China, his adversary the previous week at the WBC Night of Champions. As before Luke dominated the proceedings, this time winning by an increased points margin of 11–3.

2011 World Championships

Campbell qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games after winning a silver medal at the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships – Bantamweight in Baku, Azerbaijan.

2012 Summer Olympics

At the 2012 London Olympics, Campbell won gold in the 56 kg Bantamweight division after beating Ireland's John Joe Nevin 14:11. Campbell had earlier beaten Italian, Vittorio Parrinello, by 11:9. In the quarter-finals he met Detelin Dalakliev of Bulgaria in his closest bout of the competition, controversially edging it by a score of 16:15. His next opponent, Satoshi Shimizu from Japan- who had earlier been reinstated in the tournament by AIBA after a successful appeal after a defeat by Magomed Abdulhamidov was beaten by 20:11. Campbell beat Nevin in the final bout, and dropped the Irishman at the start of the third round, thus becoming the first bantamweight boxer to win Olympic gold for Great Britain since Henry Thomas in 1908.

A first class postage stamp, depicting Campbell, was issued by Royal Mail and a post box in Hessle Road, Hull was painted gold to commemorate his gold medal win. Local telephone network provider, KC, have also commemorated the win by painting one of their telephone boxes, near to St Paul's Boxing Club, gold.

Campbell was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to boxing. In 2013, Campbell appeared as a contestant on the eighth series of the ITV skating competition Dancing on Ice. He was paired with professional Jenna Smith and the pair reached the final, finishing in third place.

Campbell ended his amateur career with a record of 153–24.

Early professional career

Campbell's first professional fight took place on 13 July 2013 at Craven Park in his home city of Hull. His opponent was Andy Harris who he beat in the first round. Campbell continued his undefeated start to his career with a fifth-round stoppage of Lee Connelly in Hull on 2 November 2013. In his fifth professional bout Campbell carried on his undefeated record and became the first person to stop Scott Moises.

In April 2014, Campbell announced that he would be taking a break from boxing, pulling out of his next scheduled bout, following his father being diagnosed with cancer.

Despite announcing he would be taking a break from boxing, Campbell fought a further four times in 2014. A points win over Craig Woodruff, a knockout win of Steve Trumble, a technical knockout (TKO) victory over Krzysztof Szot and another TKO win over Daniel Eduardo Brizuela. In March 2015, Campbell faced off against 24 year old Nicaraguan Levis Morales (11–1–1, 4 KOs) at the Ice Arena in Hull. Campbell knocked down Morales in round two and three, before the referee Howard John Foster stopped the fight resulting in a TKO victory for Campbell.

On 1 August, Campbell claimed the vacant WBC International lightweight title by defeating fellow Hullensian Tommy Coyle (21–2, 10 KOs) via ten-round TKO at the KC Lightstream Stadium. This was also a WBC lightweight eliminator. Coyle was knocked down once in round two following a left to the body and three times in round twelve before the referee waved off the fight. Only four months later in December, Campbell lost the title and mandatory status in a split decision loss to French boxer Yvan Mendy (32–4–1, 16 KOs) at The O2 Arena in London on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs. Dillian Whyte. Campbell was floored for the first time in his professional career in a ragged defensive display as Mendy received a split decision with scores of 115–112, 115–113, while the third judge scored it 115–113 for Campbell.

After a three-month lay off, Campbell started a comeback trail in March on the undercard of Brook-Bizier at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, fighting British boxer Gary Sykes (28–4, 6 KOs) for the vacant Commonwealth lightweight title. Campbell made a winning return to the ring in spectacular fashion only needing two rounds to finish Sykes off in his first fight since losing his unbeaten professional record. A left hook that landed hard on the top of Sykes' head had him struggling before a straight right put him down. Although Sykes beat the count, Campbell was all over him. It was the left-hook that opened the door again, this time in the midsection, followed by a right to the temple. Referee Steve Gray moved swiftly in as Sykes' corner was throwing their towel to halt the fight.

Promoter Eddie Hearn revealed Campbell was next due to fight on 30 July 2016 at the First Direct Arena in Leeds for the vacant WBC Silver lightweight title against 30 year old former IBF junior-lightweight champion Argenis Mendez (23–4–1, 12 KOs). Although being floored by a sharp right hand in the second round, Campbell proved to be too quick and dominated the remainder of the fight to claim the vacant WBC Silver lightweight title. From the third round, it became a comfortable fight for Campbell who moved his opponent around the ring and caught him with a succession of punches. The scorecards were all in favour of Campbell 116–111, 117–110, 115–112, who stated he would now like to land a world title shot.

Rise up the ranks

Campbell vs. Mathews, Lopez

Campbell fought former British and Commonwealth lightweight champion and former world title challenger Derry Mathews (38–10, 20 KOs) on the undercard of the world cruiserweight title fight between Tony Bellew and BJ Flores at the Echo Arena on 15 October, live on Sky Sports. This was the first defence of the WBC Silver lightweight title in a scheduled twelve round bout. The fight started off as a brawl, however Campbell proved to be too quick as he retained his titles and kept his future world title shot alive after stopping Mathews in round four. Mathews was dropped following a couple of left hooks to his body. In the post fight interview, Campbell claimed, despite winning via stoppage, his game plan was 'to outbox Mathews for a points win'.

On 3 January 2017, it was announced that Campbell would defend his WBC Silver title against Jairo Lopez (21–6, 14 KOs) at the Ice Arena in Hull on 25 February. The title defence would be part of a triple header, also including fellow Hullensian Tommy Coyle and Gavin McDonnell challenging for the vacant WBC super-bantamweight title. Campbell won the fight in round two after a well timed uppercut floored Lopez. Referee Ian-John Lewis halted the fight. Lopez was also dropped in round one just before the bell rang. Campbell retained his WBC Silver lightweight title. After the fight, Campbell and promoter Eddie Hearn both said the fight they were chasing next is a rematch with French boxer Yvan Mendy, to avenge his sole loss. "Mendy has done the worst thing possible in beating me", Campbell said after the fight.