Chantelle Cameron: “The trilogy fight with Katie Taylor would be incredible for women’s boxing.”

Chantelle Cameron: “The trilogy fight with Katie Taylor would be incredible for women’s boxing.”

There was blood, guts, and another fight for the ages in Dublin late last year. Chantelle Cameron may well have ended 2023 without her undisputed world super-lightweight titles, but the Northampton fighter has set her sights on the trilogy fight with Katie Taylor. In truth, this is the only fight Cameron is interested in. The indication is that Taylor feels the same.

“The trilogy fight with Katie Taylor would be incredible for women’s boxing and also cements the two fights with Katie already with whoever wins the third,” Cameron told FightPost, a fighter who seemingly only has eyes for one fighter.

Their sport deserves the finishing chapter to their one-in-a-lifetime rivalry. Trilogy fights don’t come along very often. Even less so in the female ranks. But you sense Taylor and Cameron need that final chapter more than anyone.

Cameron and Taylor have shared two classic battles in Dublin in front of an insanely passionate and fanatical Irish crowd. There are encouraging signs coming out from Matchroom that Cameron will indeed get a third fight with Taylor. Frank Smith told the BBC, “We obviously promote both Katie and Chantelle. That’s the fight we want to make. I’m hopeful we can get it done. Work is ongoing, and discussions are ongoing with both teams, and I’m confident we can get something over the line.”

Cameron will take great encouragement that all signs are pointing to the trilogy fight happening in May, with the hope that all the politics around holding the fight at either Croke Park or Aviva Stadium can be resolved. They need to be. A third fight deserves the biggest possible audience possible. If they go again. They should go bigger.

The former undisputed world super-lightweight champion would have preferred a neutral venue, after entering the lion’s den for their previous two fights, but Cameron understands Ireland is where the money is and a return visit holds no fears for a fighter who is the only fighter to have defeated Katie Taylor as a professional.

Taylor and Cameron have split their two previous meetings. Each taking the other’s unbeaten record in the process. The decider could be even better than the two fights we have already seen. Cameron believes her performance in the rematch didn’t quite match what we saw in May last year. The blood that flowed from the early stages cost Cameron her focus. And the fight.

One scorecard was a travesty. Another a little closer to reality. The third matched mine. I couldn’t split Cameron and Taylor on the night. But Taylor had got her revenge. Cameron now wants her redemption. It could come in May.

Despite the intense rivalry, there is mutual respect between the two fighters, but Cameron firmly believes she will end the trilogy on top if the two should square off again later this year.

“I know I can and will beat Katie Taylor again, especially now as I’m the fighter coming off the loss,” Cameron told me a few weeks ago.

Talks are ongoing as Frank Smith alluded to in that interview with the BBC. The former champion will hope her chance of redemption isn’t taken away from her in the negotiating room.

Cameron and Taylor have served up two of the greatest female fights in boxing history. Two nights and two fights that will live long in the memory. Boxing politics should not get in the way of there being a decider.

Photo Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing