Chantelle Cameron: “Now that I have signed with MVP, I think the big fights will now happen for me.”

Chantelle Cameron: “Now that I have signed with MVP, I think the big fights will now happen for me.”

It was the two-year anniversary of her most famous night when I caught up with Chantelle Cameron over Zoom. The fight that ended in euphoric celebrations. A long-awaited homecoming ruined for the hometown hero. Cameron travelled to Dublin in May 2023 and became the first fighter to inflict defeat on the professional resume of Katie Taylor.

“It was a great night. I shocked everyone,” Cameron said in reflection of that night. “I ruined the party, so it was definitely a great night for me. But I don’t really live in the past. Last year wasn’t great for me, but I’m over it now.”

Cameron lost the rematch and her undisputed world super-lightweight titles to Taylor six months later, and much has changed for the Northampton fighter since. Cameron left Matchroom and her long-time trainer Jamie Moore, hooking up with Frank Warren and Grant Smith, respectively. But Cameron is on the move again. Now trained by Stephen Smith in that fighting city of Liverpool, and with her recent signing to Jake Paul and his Most Valuable Promotions, Cameron firmly believes they are moves that will change the trajectory of her career.

“I feel the good times are about to happen again now,” Cameron says. “Last year, Queensberry and Frank Warren were absolutely fantastic. But the big fights just weren’t there. But signing with MVP is a massive game-changer.

“Their signings are incredible, and they have really invested in women’s boxing. They are going worldwide, and it’s really positive for women’s boxing. It has taken a massive dip, but hopefully, it’s now on the rise again.”

The move to MVP came somewhat out of the blue, with Cameron still having one fight remaining on her Queensberry deal. “It was actually Queensberry that set the deal up,” Cameron relayed to me. “That’s what I mean, I have nothing but good things to say about Queensberry. They supported me through my comeback, and they tried to get me the third fight with Katie or another world title shot. But it’s boxing. It just didn’t happen. It basically came about when my manager and Queensberry were discussing that this was a better option for me, and then we started talking to MVP.”

Before signing with MVP, Cameron, frustrated with the way her career was going, did have fleeting thoughts of retiring. “The WBC had set a deadline, and then that got extended, and I just thought I was wasting my time here. I had gone undisputed, and I had achieved a lot in boxing. There are just too many ups and downs in boxing, and if I walk away now, I could say I have set out what I wanted to do. I was in a good place to be able to do that. Luckily, now that I have signed with MVP, I think the big fights will now happen for me.”

Cameron has made no secret of her desire for a third meeting with Katie Taylor. But despite still wanting to close out a rivalry that is very much unfinished business, Cameron has seemingly accepted that a third fight with Taylor won’t ever come her way.

“I don’t think Katie and her team want to fight me again,” Cameron admitted. “So I don’t think this changes anything, if I am honest. Katie and her team will still avoid me. That’s just me being honest. I kind of accept that it is what it is. If she really wanted the trilogy, it would have already happened. I have said it’s amazing that Katie is getting this fantastic payday against Amanda Serrano. But when there is that clip of Katie saying in the ring about the trilogy with me. That could have happened straight away. She wasn’t even in talks with Amanda at that time. Katie and I were in talks, I accepted all my terms, and then Katie wanted to fight her mandatory first. So that alone shows that she didn’t want to fight me. I dropped my price, and I accepted everything.

“I think Katie knows deep down that I will beat her again. She beat me in the rematch, but the referee didn’t help, and she got her tactics right. But I think Katie knows she was very lucky that night.”

During her period of frustration, with the doors at 140 remaining shut, Cameron was thinking of moving up to 147 and looking for a world title in a second weight division. But at least for now, Cameron intends to stay in her natural weight division to reclaim what was lost two years ago in the rematch with Taylor. “I am mandatory for the WBC super-lightweight title. I have been told that after this fight, I will be fighting for the belt. I have waited too long to get my shot at that. I spent all last year trying to get in that position. So I would be crazy to walk away from it now. But after I win that world title, I will be moving up to welterweight.”

Cameron will have her next fight announced later this week. It is a fight that she is excited about.

“It’s a fight I can get my teeth stuck into,” Cameron says of her next opponent. “No disrespect to my opponents from last year, but I just couldn’t get up for them. In my first fight last year, I was so poorly. I had a chest and sinus infection, so it wasn’t the best year for me.”

The decision to leave Grant Smith after two fights to go with Stephen Smith is another move that has revitalised a fighter who is looking to close out her career with more world titles over the next few years.

“I am absolutely loving it,” a clearly happy Cameron told me about her working relationship with Smith. “I am not just saying this, but it’s the best decision I have made. Grant is a great trainer and a great guy, but something was just missing. When I was with Jamie and Nigel, I had that great bond with them. We had a laugh, and I saw them as friends as well. They have been there for me through the highs and the lows. I have been messaging Stephen for a while. He is such a nice guy. All the brothers are such good boxers. I kind of get four for the price of one. Stephen is such a great coach. He is learning me loads. He is giving me a lot of time, and I have never really had that before. You can tell Stephen is just as hungry as I am; it has given me that hunger back as well. Like I said, last year wasn’t the year that I wanted. I was boxing, but I didn’t have that hunger. I just couldn’t get up for those fights. But now I have a coach who is making me want to be a world champion again. I want to give it to Stephen just as much as I want it for myself.”

There is something different about Chantelle Cameron. While things haven’t quite aligned for her since that first career reversal against Taylor, everything is now seemingly falling into place for her. The decision to leave Queensberry and Grant Smith behind has been made mutually with no hard feelings. An important note that many will want to ignore. Jake Paul and Stephen Smith look like being the missing pieces in the jigsaw. Happy and motivated, Cameron seems to be in the perfect place for what lies ahead.

“Obviously, I want to become undisputed again,” Cameron told me. “The second fight with Katie was a close fight, and it’s just unfortunate I didn’t get my chance at redemption. So that will always be bittersweet for me. I do want to be undisputed again before I retire, so I can walk away at the top. Getting my belts back at super-lightweight is very personal to me. But also, I want to go for the big names, someone like Mikaela Mayer or Natasha Jonas. I just want the big fights and to share the ring with the big names.”