Chantelle Cameron: “In the rematch, I think I will be even better. I think I will be more dangerous and I will do a better job.”

Chantelle Cameron: “In the rematch, I think I will be even better. I think I will be more dangerous and I will do a better job.”

We are around two months removed from a famous night at the 3Arena in Dublin. It was supposed to be the fairytale homecoming. A night of celebration to welcome home the nation’s hero. Maybe against the originally intended opponent, it would have been. But fate would write a different script.

When Amanda Serrano pulled out through injury, Katie Taylor made a call that surprised many. It might now go down as an infamous Tweet when Taylor called out Chantelle Cameron, but the undisputed 140-pound champion of the world responded favourably. Of course, she did. It’s the fight that she has always wanted. But in truth, it never looked like coming. Remember the days when Cameron was her mandatory at 135, and that call never came. To be fair, not many people do. An inconvenient truth to some.

But to her credit, Taylor could have called out anyone. Who would be in the opposite corner to her on the long-awaited homecoming was, in some ways, an irrelevance. Taylor could have taken a safer route that would have safeguarded the after-party. Taylor called out perhaps the toughest challenge of all. It was a gamble and one that left the money men having many sleepless nights. A brave call that ended in defeat in May on a night of pure emotion.

Cameron was waiting for a train when we connected over Zoom. The background noise of train announcements, a minor obstacle to overcome. The still undisputed champion of the world had a lot to get off her chest. Memories of the fight with Taylor are still vivid, and an acceptance that despite the famous win in Ireland, she can do even better next time:

“It was good. Obviously, it was very hostile towards me, so it was a lot different from what I’m used to. But I got the job done. I’ve learned a lot about myself in that fight, especially mentally. When I look back on the fight, I don’t think I boxed as well as I can. The crowd was getting to me. The moment was getting to me. But even with all that pressure on my shoulders, I still got the win over a legend. In the rematch, I think I will be even better. I think I will be more dangerous and I will do a better job.” Cameron told me as the 16:35 to somewhere unknown approached its designated platform.

Cameron was inspired on her big night in May. The opening rounds went quickly and in her favour. The passionate vocal faithful were reduced to somewhere near silence when their hero was struggling in the early stages of their truly titanic fight. The occasion needed a great fight. It got one and then some. The Irish had come to party, Taylor and Cameron had come for something more. The early dominance from Cameron was soon replaced by anxiety and more.

“In the 5th round, I said to Jamie,” Am I winning? ” After the first two rounds, I was really comfortable, I felt comfortable. When Katie would throw something, even though it would hit my arms, the place would just erupt,” Cameron told FightPost. “But when I caught her, and even when her head would ping back, there would be silence. It was Katie’s big homecoming, in her hometown, she has a massive following, and I was thinking the judges wouldn’t give it to me unless I stopped her. We see it all the time in boxing with bad decisions. So I just thought I was losing my belts tonight and that I was going home empty-handed.”

When the majority decision was announced in her favour, it was a moment that took time for Cameron to process:

“I can remember afterwards thinking have I really done it. People said to me, “Why didn’t you cry?” But I was in the ring, and I was just in the moment. I’d just beaten Katie Taylor. I didn’t really have time for no emotion.”

Even with the never-ending sounds of trains entering and leaving the station, you could hear the annoyance, anger even in her voice. A recent interview has annoyed Cameron, her words misrepresented in her view about the treatment that she received in Ireland:

“I did an interview last week, and I asked him to take the article down because the headline was completely wrong. I understand you want to get views, but it was insulting, I didn’t say that at all,” Cameron explained to me, clearly wanting to clarify certain comments made previously. “It looked like I was saying bad things about Ireland, and I wasn’t. I was talking about the bad experiences in Ireland. It was nothing to do with Ireland or the people in Ireland. It was written differently in the context of what I actually said. I have been on holiday in Ireland and I love the Irish people. The article read as though I was slating Ireland, and I really wasn’t. We had a really good week in Ireland, and me and my team were well looked after. But there were little things going on behind the scenes, which had nothing to do with Irish people. There were things happening that were trying to take me off track, but it was nothing to do with Ireland. It was something that was happening in the inner circle that was trying to throw me off my mindset and knock me off my focus.

“Some of my friends, family, and sponsors who were in the crowd had a different atmosphere and experience. There were things happening in the toilets, and my mum doesn’t want to come back to Ireland. It just got very rowdy, and I know boxing gets that way, but this was different. It was Ireland vs. England, Katie’s big homecoming, and a lot of things were happening in the crowd that were making my friends, family, and sponsors really uncomfortable. They don’t want to come back again. My mum said that even though I won the fight, I was still being booed, and she doesn’t want to witness that again. My mum was also witness to some of the things that were happening behind the scenes. But other people said they had a really good time and they were being congratulated by the Irish people. But there was the other side where it was intimidating to some of them. I was backstage, in the zone, and I didn’t witness any of that. But my friends and family had a different experience with what I had.

“It’s part and parcel of boxing, but I want to make it clear that I wasn’t saying anything bad about Ireland. I just wanted a neutral venue where people I want to be there to support me will be able to come.

“I don’t know why me and Katie are not doing a catchweight fight with all our belts on the line. I put my belts on the line and beat. After the fight, I said I would come down to her weight. I haven’t made 135 for four or five years, so it would be to her advantage anyway. At the end of the day, I want to make my own challenges and create my own history. I am not doing this just to cash out. I beat McCaskill at 140, but the fight at 147 for her belts didn’t happen. So why should I put my belts on the line again? I don’t see why she can’t put her belts on the line as well. I went over to Dublin and put my belts on the line, I could have lost everything.”

Cameron will rematch Taylor in November, and a return visit to Dublin awaits her. Cameron wanted a neutral venue and wanted to challenge Taylor for her lightweight baubles and even suggested a catchweight fight with all the 135 and 140 belts on the line. But Cameron has again got to do everything all over again, and only her belts will be on the line.

“Ideally I would like the rematch on neutral ground rather than go back to Ireland where people won’t now come and support me. That’s not insulting anyone or being disrespectful. I want people to come and support me, and I want my friends and family to be there.” A frustrated Cameron said, clearly an unhappy fighter who expected a little movement from her first meeting with Taylor.

All the focus was on Taylor before their fight in point. It was the much-publicised and long-awaited homecoming for the Irish superstar, the narrative of the show obvious to all. But while that was understandable to a point, it was equally incredibly insulting to the undefeated and undisputed champion who was defending her belts against Taylor. Her name was on the wrong side of the fight poster, made to walk to the ring first. Cameron, in comparison, an afterthought. A bit part player in the Katie Taylor show.

“I felt disrespected. I am the champion, but what other champion has to walk out first,” Cameron said. “Then when I was in the ring, obviously I don’t know how long it was because I didn’t have a stopwatch on me, but it felt like ten minutes having to wait for this massive ring walk. I was thinking this is a bit of a piss-take now, and my ring walk was actually rushed. I had to start mine while I was in the changing room, and my music started playing while I was still in there. Obviously, I didn’t know how long her ring walk was going to be, so now it explains why mine was rushed, just to get mine over and done with. That was disrespectful to me, and that is another reason why I don’t want to go back to that atmosphere where I have to rush everything and have everything work around my opponent. I think that’s fair for me to say that. I don’t want to have to go through all that again. I don’t think many people in my position would either. I wanted to put my foot down and not get mugged off.”

The theme of her words is constant. The feeling of disrespect is still within, and the worry of what might happen the second time around.

“I will take each fight as it comes. My worry is that I will go back to Dublin, and I will get robbed this time. I beat Katie on her big homecoming, and you could tell there were a lot of broken hearts. Nothing to do with the fans. It was people in and around the ring. There were a lot of heartbroken people when I beat Katie Taylor because nobody was expecting it. So I am worried that I will go back there and be robbed of my belts because I wasn’t meant to win the first time, and that is my biggest concern.”

But Cameron has been here before. It’s hardly her first rodeo in such matters. She has battled many things in her life. Resilience is a word that could have been formed for her. The perceived disrespect, frustration, and more will likely drive Cameron on to serve up an even better performance in November.

“I want to prove it was just one night. I think Katie is saying she didn’t perform her best, and I certainly didn’t perform my best. When I watch it back, I know I could have done a lot better. I’ve watched it back a few times, and I get a little frustrated. I could have done this, I could have done that, but I was in the moment a lot was happening. I just know in the rematch that I will do a lot better.”

Cameron was near flawless in the opening rounds, but Taylor came roaring back in a fight that more than justified the occasion. The closing rounds are where Cameron feels she can improve from the first fight.

“It was in the second half of the fight. I just felt a little bit deflated, and I was thinking it was slipping out of my fingers. I was thinking I was going to lose my belts and where do I go from here. I can remember thinking that.” A fighter already processing her route to a repeat victory in a few months’ time.

A win is vital for Cameron. Big names and big fights await Cameron if she inflicts another defeat on the resume of Taylor. Mikaela Mayer is interested. Very Interested. So is the recently crowned IBF welterweight champion of the world Natasha Jonas. They are good friends, but there is still a willingness to share a ring together. Cameron sparred with Jonas in preparation for the Liverpool fighters’ fight with Taylor in 2021, and they want to fight for real in the early months of 2024. Could it even be a catchweight fight with 140 and 147 belts on the line? There is friendship and respect between the pair. Cameron and Jonas are two fighters who are always seemingly swimming against the tide of boxing politics. A fight between the pair would be one that offers hope that everyone can find a way to make things happen. They share many things.

“Tasha and I get along very well. I go to her for a lot of advice, to be honest. So it’s a bit weird saying I want to box her. But I have got a lot of faith in Tasha. She knows the game inside out, and she is a very wise woman as well. I am still a little naive in this game, and sometimes I will ring Tasha and get her opinion. So, for me and Tasha to say we will fight each other shows we just want the best for our careers. I also think it will be a great fight, not just for me and Tasha, but for the sport. There is a lot of respect between us.”

Cameron has achieved plenty, but she isn’t satisfied.

“I wanted to become undisputed, I have done that now. I wanted to box Katie Taylor, which I thought would never happen,” Cameron told FightPost, but she wants more, even trying her hand at another sport.

“So now I have ticked that off, I want to be undisputed in another weight division. I am also doing a bit of MMA training now, so I am having a bit of a dabble in that. I literally just want one MMA fight. If I don’t do it, I will regret it when I have hung my gloves up.”

It’s difficult not to find at least some semblance of sympathy for Cameron. There are obligations from the initial contract surrounding the rematch, but a little movement in favour of Cameron wouldn’t have been too much of a stretch. Have the rematch in Dublin, but give Cameron the opportunity to win Taylor’s belts. At least give Cameron something back for her win in May. But everything is just the same. Cameron is the undisputed champion of the world remember. And she beat Taylor. Does that even matter? Apparently not. But is that failure to move on anything, a sign of a lack of confidence from the Taylor camp. Do they need that home advantage? Does the refusal to put her belts on the line indicate that they need something to fall back on if Taylor suffers a second successive defeat?

If Cameron does repeat her win over Taylor, the hope is that her career can move forward on her terms. It is, in truth, the least that she would deserve.

Photo Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing