CAMERON: THE LOSS WILL BE MAKING OF ME
CHANTELLE CAMERON says she is ready to redeem herself as she eyes a trilogy fight with Katie Taylor in Dublin later this year.
The pair battled it out in two absolute wars and fight of the year contenders in 2023, with the score currently 1-1 between them after Taylor avenged her defeat to the English fighter to claim Cameron’s superlightweight titles last November (above).
They are expected to clash for a third time in May, although the fight now looks set for the 3Arena once again, with Croke Park seemingly off the cards, along with the
Aviva Stadium.
Cameron (inset) looks back at her defeat to Taylor as a “bad dream”, but she is taking what positives she can from it as she aims to silence an Irish crowd once again by beating Ireland’s golden girl for a second time.
“It was a bad night for me clearly, to have my first loss,” she said of the November defeat. “It is what it is. We all have to lose at some time, but do you know what, it’s probably the best thing that’s happened to me as well.
“Everyone says that but until you take your first loss, you actually think, do you know what, it’s a blessing.
“It was a hard night, I’m still going to stick to what I said about the referee, he was making the fight so hard for me.
“First round, I do think I hurt Katie, I landed a punch and she went down so it should have been scored a knockdown and obviously the cut happened.
“This isn’t me making excuses because whatever I say, everyone is going to say I’m making excuses, but I’m not.
“And well-deserved for her, she redeemed herself, but was it a fair night for me? I don’t think it was and I get slagged off so much for it but I’m going to stick to what I’m saying because I honestly believe it.
“I’m a bit disappointed with my performance, it’s a little bit frustrating because I got shut down and I felt like it was a dream. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t punch, the referee was making it difficult, I was saying let me out to do my work, it was like a bad dream.”
A clash of heads in the third round opened a bad cut on Cameron’s forehead, which bled heavily for the rest of the fight, and the 32-year-old believes that also had an impact on the bout and her performance.
“I’ve never been cut like that and I can remember the blood and I don’t deal with blood well. Now I just want a fair shot at getting the chance to redeem myself.”