Nate Campbell / Photo © Marty Rosengarten / Ringsidephotos.com

View full size photo »

Michael Nelson previews Saturday's 140lb clash between battling veteran Nate Campbell and big hitting Victor Ortiz.

Perhaps Deja Vu would be a more fitting nickname than The Galaxxy Warrior for veteran pugilist Nate Campbell.

He was the prohibitive underdog against Almazbek Raiymkulov four and a half years ago, written off as old and washed up. Two and a half years after an unrelenting beating of Raiymkulov, he was written off as fodder for the HBO groomed Juan Diaz. A little over two years after spanking young Diaz, he's being viewed as an "opponent" for Victor Ortiz.

If there's one thing clear from this pattern, it's this: counting Nate out is a risky proposition.

His underdog status against the 23 year old banger is largely due to his age and inactivity, and was solidified by a less-than-examplary performance in his last outing. But how much did we really learn in three rounds between the crafty veteran and phenom Timothy Bradley? Besides the tiny sample size, it should be noted that the first two rounds were very competitive. It wasn't until the third round, post-headbutt, that the bottom fell out.

A more relevant sample would be his grueling bout with Ali Funeka, a huge lightweight with punching power. Appearing to be out of gas in the middle rounds, Campbell rallied late to gut out a tough decision. Vicious shots to the midsection helped break down his determined opponent - the same opponent that beat the stuffing out of Joan Guzman (regardless of the official decision) in the fight between the two where Guzman actually attempted to make weight.

So perhaps the fall of Nate Campbell has been a bit exaggerated. But if there is slippage present, Ortiz has the athletic talent to the shove him into a full-blown tumble. Exploding with compact combinations out of his guard, Victor has stopped his last 11 victims. In his one loss during that time frame, he dropped hard-nosed Argentinian Marcos Maidana three times before succumbing to a sudden avalanche of abuse in the 5th and 6th rounds.

How Victor yielded midway through the 2009 fight of the year candidate may give an indication into how he'd fare if the waters started getting deep against a man as tenacious as Campbell. As evidenced by his bouts with Kid Diamond, Matt Zegan, Ricky Quiles, and Juan Diaz, Nate doesn't simply look to outbox his opponents. He's relentless when he senses any signs of wilting and doles out an abnormal amount of punishment. Punishment that revolves around one of the more brutal body attacks in boxing.

Thus, the questions that surround the bout are plentiful. Both Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley - two 38+ year old, fairly inactive fighters - looked uninspired and flat in their recent outings. How will 38 year old Campbell look against a young lion after fighting only three rounds in the last 15 months? And how much gumption will Victor show in his quest for redemption? Unless Ortiz expects to steamroll the hard-nosed Floridian early, he'll have to walk through the aforementioned body attack along with sharp counter right hands to the head. Will the notion that he doesn't deserve getting punished creep back into his psyche after several rounds of pain?

It's the classic crossroads match that promises the most action of the night.  Most expect youth to triumph over guile. Nate's used to those expectations, and I suspect he wouldn't have it any other way.

e-mail Michael Nelson