Lightweight champion Nate Campbell has vacated his WBA belt due to the schedule he would face to keep his three titles.

But with his IBF defence against Ali Funeka set for February 14 and his desire to fight the winner of Juan Manuel Marquez v Juan Diaz before defending his WBO belt against Marco Antonio Barrera, there was "no way" he could squeeze in his mandatory WBA fight.

In a statement, Campbell said: "I really wanted to try and unify the lightweight titles but looking at reality it just isn't going to happen, at least not in '09.

"Not that I'm looking past my February 14 IBF mandatory with Ali Funeka, because I'm not. Funeka deserves, and unfortunately for him, he will get my full and undivided attention.

"But there just isn't any way I see that I would be able to do my WBA mandatory defence against Paulus Moses, or whoever has the regular title then.

"After February 14, I really hope to fight the Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz winner next, and then right after that I have a WBO mandatory due with Barerra.

"So there's no way I can fulfil my mandatory obligation to the WBA. So rather than pay sanction fees on it for the next few fights, knowing full well I won't be able to defend it without giving up my WBO belt, (which I won't do), I decided to just go ahead and vacate the WBA title now.

"I still have the desire to someday unify all the belts, but I also have to balance that desire against the reality of the sport these days. There just aren't enough opportunities to fight in order to maintain all the titles."