By Mark Vester

At the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida, Nate Campbell (33-5-1, 25 KOs) won a close majority decision over Ali Funeka (30-2-2, 25KOs). Because Campbell was unable to make weight on Friday, all of his lightweight titles, the WBA, WBO and IBF, are all vacant. Campbell used two knockdowns to pull from behind and win the fight. The scores were 113-113 for the draw, 115-111 and 114-112 for Campbell.

Campbell pushed Funeka back in the first by coming forward at all times. Campbell came out in the second throwing big punches. He hurt Funeka with a right hand to the temple and a few moments later Campbell caught him with a combination that sent him down on his back. Funeka barely made it up and out of the round as he held to the bell. Campbell started to walk backwards and jab in the third. The two would exchange some punches to the body but Funeka appeared to have cleared his head and landed punches from several angles. There was more heated action in the fourth, both fighters gave as good as they took.

Funeka continued to rise his level of activity in the fight, staying away by sticking and moving and outworking Campbell in the fight. In the sixth round, Campbell came out strong in the first minute but Funeka kept up the much higher level of activity with a non-stop workrate of punches being thrown and many of them landing. The seventh was closer. Nate tried to apply himself more and Funeka continued to work hard.

The eight round was more of the same. Campbell was throwing the harder punches. Funeka was working at a harder pace. In the ninth, Campbell appeared to look tired as Funeka continued to come on and throw punches in bunches. The tenth saw Campbell stay close to Funeka and work on the inside to make Funeka slow down. Campbell came out with some winging shots to the body in the eleventh. In the final minute of the eleventh, Campbell caught Funeka with another right hand to the temple that sent Funeka down and once again he barely made it out of the round as Campbell tried to finish him off.

Campbell came out with a fury in the twelfth, pressing on Funeka and throwing a lot of body shots. Funeka would answer back in the final minute with some hard punches. Both fighters were exhausted by the end.

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