Chantelle Cameron: Beyond The Ropes

Chantelle Cameron: Beyond The Ropes

August 29th will represent a full-circle moment for Chantelle Cameron. It’s been a difficult, frustrating few years for the former undisputed world super-lightweight champion.

Cameron was riding a career-high moment in May 2023. A famous victory in Dublin over Katie Taylor should have led to more. It was the emotional homecoming for Taylor. Undefeated. Undisputed. Cameron, the supporting act. Didn’t read the script and turned in a truly inspired performance to inflict a first career defeat on the professional resume of Taylor. At least from the outside, that victory was virtually buried. It felt as though it didn’t happen. The promotional powers that be did nothing with it.

The rematch six months later ended with Taylor gaining revenge. A deeply frustrating experience for Cameron. A blatant opening round knockdown for Cameron was missed. Not long after, a clash of heads left the Northampton fighter with blood pouring down from her forehead. Cameron admitted she lost her head. But it was still incredibly close after ten pulsating rounds. One judge had them dead-level, as did this observer. But the two remaining judges had Taylor winning.

A trilogy seemed a natural. But it never came. Cameron, more than a touch reluctantly, moved on. Cameron left her trainer Jamie Moore. She left Matchroom for Queensberry. She eventually signed with Jake Paul and his Most Valuable Promotions, and after periods being trained by Grant Smith and Stephen Smith, Cameron returned to Jamie Moore. In many ways, the story arc is nearly complete. “I have had my lessons, I have made decisions, and I have worked with some great coaches, but I am back where I belong,” Cameron told me earlier this year.

Full completion would be another win over a fellow pound-for-pound fighter. In just a few short weeks, Cameron will have that opportunity.

Mikaela Mayer will be in the opposite corner at the end of the month in Birmingham. A fight of real intrigue, importance, and jeopardy. Mayer defends her WBC and WBA world 154-baubles, Cameron puts her WBO super-welterweight title on the line. Rematch clauses are in play. Both will know the relevance of that little contract detail. A safety blanket that Mayer and Cameron will appreciate.

When Mayer joined the MVP family earlier this year, a fight between the pair was always somewhat inevitable. I kinda knew that I had my eyes on Mikaela [Mayer] and my team knew, MVP knew, and they made it happen,” Cameron said at Tuesday’s London press conference. “I’m just grateful to be here.”

“I think me and Mikaela are quite similar,” Cameron added. “We want to fight the best, and that’s why I’ve got a lot of respect for her because she’s not shy to back down from a challenge. I want to fight the very best, and Mikaela is on that list as well.”

Since losing that rematch to Taylor at the end of 2023, Cameron has kept winning. But her opponents haven’t really inspired or tested her. They have been solid enough opponents, but they haven’t been elite-level fighters. Mayer will represent the toughest challenge Cameron has faced since those two titanic fights with Taylor. The 35-year-old is relishing the prospect of facing the three-division world champion.

“I think I’m a different breed,” Cameron said on Tuesday. “I think the tougher my challenge, the better I am. I know Mikaela is a tough test and that’s going to bring the best out of me, and I shine when I have those opponents in front of me. The best comes out of me, and I think I’m unstoppable.”

Mayer and Cameron will undoubtedly deliver a fight for the ages. Mayer thinks it will be the 2026 Fight of the Year. A bold claim before a punch is even thrown. But as they say, when you know, you know.

“It’s going to be good,” Cameron says. “And hopefully for women’s boxing as well, more fights like this happen. The best fight the best, and just get the contract signed and get in the ring and fight each other. Stop talking and just get down to action.”

Cameron probably had periods in the last few years where she would have felt lost. The search for happiness and perfection can do that. Many will question some of her words and moves since the Taylor reversal. But I get it. Sometimes you have to go elsewhere to fully appreciate what you already have. Cameron has returned home. A place where she has enjoyed the biggest successes of her career.

I’ve always felt Cameron has been misunderstood. Usually, from the critics who are not armed with the full facts. I think her achievements are not fully appreciated. Cameron went undisputed at super-lightweight, and that victory over Katie Taylor doesn’t get anywhere near the credit it deserves.

But Cameron has ridden out the frustrations. She seems happy now. And crucially, the hook-up with MVP should guarantee Cameron the big marquee fights she has been starved of over the last few years.

Cameron is back in that headline status at the perfect time in her career. Mayer poses significant problems for her and will likely start the fight the slight betting favourite. But even Mayer admits that Cameron is her best opponent to date. It’s the sort of fight that, as Cameron says herself, will bring out the best in her.

Some of the love for her sport was dwindling before the move back to Jamie Moore and his trusty sidekick Nigel Travis. The keyword is happy. Cameron has finally found that.

“Everything now is a bonus,” Cameron told me in March. “It’s about enjoying this last chapter now. I am going to have some fun and enjoy it.” Happy and dangerous usually go hand in hand in boxing. A combination that could tip the fight with Mayer in her favour.