Tampa, FL: One day after suffering a one-sided decision loss at the hands of Victor Ortiz, former unified lightweight champion Nate Campbell took a moment to discuss what lies ahead for him.

By Nate Campbell

 

First off, I want to thank my family, my fans, and Golden Boy for all the support I have gotten since the fight. And a sincere congratulations to Victor Ortiz for a well deserved victory. I cant take anything away from the kid. He beat me fair and square, and I wish him much success. The big question of course that everyone has been asking me now has been 'Is that it for Nate Campbell?. And the answer to that is 'quite possibly.'

Unfortunately, my body just wont do the things anymore that my brain tells it to do. I still have the hunger, the skill, and the desire to fight the very best out there, but at 38 years old, my body just doesnt seem to want to cooperate with me. I pulled my sciatic nerve in camp for this fight, and honestly thought I had worked it out, and everything was fine. I felt great before the fight. No excuses. Even better than I felt for the Bradley fight. But by the 2nd round, I couldnt plant my left foot at all.

I couldnt cut him off. I couldnt do much of anything except hope that I could bait Victor to stand inside and make it a brawl, and he proved himself to be too smart a fighter to fight my fight. He's obviously learned that lesson since the Maidana fight. I give him much credit for that. But it is what it is. I've only been a professional prize fighter for 10 years, but it seems the wear and tear of the fights, the training camps, and the countless rounds of sparring, well they just dont seem to take to well to a guy in his late 30's in the lighter divisions.

So Terry is setting me up to see a specialist in Tampa next week, and myself, John David, and Terry are all in agreement that if there's nothing they can do in regards to my sciatic nerve damage, then I'm going to hang it up. I've always been an honest fighter, and if I dont believe I can beat these guys, then I'm just not going to do it anymore. It's never been about paydays. It's always been about being able to compete with the best. And if that isnt going to be possible anymore, then I'll just do something else. Whether its commentary, training, management, or whatever. I will not allow myself to be somebodys opponent just for money. If I cant compete at the level I feel I need to, then I'm done. And I can leave this game with no regrets, and my head held high.

I've been an underdog my whole life. Guys like me aren't supposed to win multiple world titles, and fight big fights on the world stage. I got to do that. I got to live my dream. And no matter what happens, nobody can ever take that away from me. It's mine forever. So we'll see what the doctors say. If they say that's it, then that's it. If they say that I can spend 6 months rehabbing it and it will be good as new, then we'll see about that too.

But no matter what happens, I have way to much respect for myself, this sport, my team, and the fans who spend their hard earned money to ever step into the ring in a fight I dont believe I can win, no matter what. That's not who I am. So again I thank everyone for all the support they've given me, and we'll see how this plays out in the coming weeks.