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Home » Exclusive: Gallagher rules out Campbell v Mathews winner for Cardle, plots European path

Exclusive: Gallagher rules out Campbell v Mathews winner for Cardle, plots European path

Cardle took a dogged Hooper out in six rounds at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow in what most thought would be the 27 year-old’s final defence to keep the Lonsdale Belt outright. Cardle was then informed his draw with Sean Dodd in their second bout would not count as a successful defence and he would need one more win to secure the strap.

Gallagher will now delay plans for Cardle to be put forward as a challenger for the European title and aim for another domestic level opponent before his charge makes the inevitable step up in class.

“It was a good win for Scott Cardle over Kevin Hooper,” Gallagher exclusively told World Boxing News.

“We know he’s still a work in progress, but the opportunities are there. We’ve been told we have to have one more defence of the British title to win it outright, so we’ll be looking for another voluntary defence before possibly moving on to a European title shot against Edis Tatli of Finland.”

One fight that won’t be happening yet is the winner of Saturday’s mouth-watering clash between Luke Campbell and Derry Mathews in Liverpool, which was mentioned as a possibility in the aftermath of Cardle’s recent win

“I saw people trying to put words in Scott Cardle’s mouth though as we’re not looking at the winner of Luke Campbell v Derry Mathews, whatsoever. I don’t know why that was mentioned,” said Gallagher.

“Derry Mathews just lost a world title fight to Terry Flanagan and Luke Campbell is high in the world rankings. They are both going their own path and are not looking to fight for the British title. The only chance that fight gets made is if either of them wanted to become Scott Cardle’s mandatory.

“But Scott’s just fought his mandatory in Kevin Hooper so we are now looking for a voluntary defence and we are going our route, for a European title fight. Tatli is a winnable fight for Scott Cardle at this moment in time.

“This time next year, Scott Cardle will be breaking into the world stage,” he added.