By John MacDonald

Luke Campbell, (12-0,10 KOs), returns to the ring on December 12 at London’s O2 Arena on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua- Dillian Whyte grudge match and is looking to take the next step in his professional development.

London 2012 Olympic Gold medallist Campbell - who now holds a top 15 ranking with the WBC and IBF – could face a fellow world ranked contender in what will be his 13th fight. While Campbell leaves the matchmaking - and the politics that comes with it – to his manager and promoter he is ready to test himself against a higher calibre fighter.

“I want another step up,” Campbell told Boxing Scene. “Each fight now is just about increasing the quality of the opponents and being in bigger fights.

 “I don’t look at it [potential opponents] myself, I just leave it up to the team. They take care of that business and I’ll take care of the other [fighting].”

This will be Campbell’s first fight since he picked up the biggest win of his career to date, back in August – stopping local rival Tommy Coyle inside 10 rounds.

Whilst the southpaw handled the step up in class with aplomb, he believes he can improve on the performance. The fight billed as ‘The Rumble on the Humber’ had extensive media coverage in lead-up to the contest. For the – then – 11-fight novice the experience was invaluable.

It may have been the first time the 27-year-old had been involved in such activities but he appeared to thrive on them, remaining calm even as the war of words with Coyle intensified. It is an experience he believes will stand him in good stead for the future.

“It was good but there’s always things you can pick up on and learn from and get better,” Campbell said of his on performance before reflecting on the entire pre-fight build-up. “It was good for me to experience all that from start to finish. It was a full camp where I knew who I was fighting and we had press conferences and everything else like that. It was great to be a part of the build-up. It was my first time being involved in a full build-up like that so it was really good.

“The full thing was brilliant: the build-up, the press conferences, the head-to-head then obviously the massive fight. It was a big stage so it was great to be a part of it and learn from that and move on to the next one and fight someone better.”

At present the 135lbs division is arguably the strongest in Britain with WBO Champion Terry Flanagan, Anthony Crolla who - challenges Darleys Perez for WBA version of the title on November 21, a rejuvenated Ricky Burns and Kevin Mitchell all competing at the weight.

Promoter politics means a fight with Flanagan (promoted by Frank Warren) is unlikely but with the others all fighting under the Matchroom Sport banner – alongside Campbell – bouts with any of them would be straight-forward to make. Despite only having 12 professional contests, these are challenges Campbell would relish.

“It’s brilliant,” he said of the division domestically. “There’s some big fights to be made in Britain, in our division. There are some great fighters so I’m looking forward to it, to be a part of that. This is why I’m in the sport of boxing to be a part of big fights and to excite the fans and to put a good show on.”

The rivalry between – former amateur foes – Joshua and Whyte has captured the public’s imagination with the O2 selling out within hours of tickets going on sale. Campbell is looking forward to boxing in front of a packed-out arena and putting on a show for the fans in attendance.

“I thrive off the big events like this. The more people the merrier. It’s going to be one hell of a show. You’ve got Joshua headlining and he’s in a great fight. I’m happy to be a part of big shows like this.”

Follow John MacDonald on Twitter @jamacd2011