Fighter from Northampton shows steely focus to defy raucous home crowd, raising prospect of ‘Taylor-Cameron II’
“I was buzzing out there,” Chantelle Cameron said quietly in the early hours of Sunday morning as, not long after her greatest victory, she explained how she dealt with the hostility which cascaded down on her in a tumultuous 3Arena in Dublin. It had felt as if every one of 10,000 roaring souls in the sold-out crowd was against Cameron and supporting Katie Taylor as she finally fought at home in Ireland for the first time in her professional career.
Cameron’s face was bruised but she smiled as she absorbed the scale of her achievement in remaining the undisputed super-lightweight champion of the world after narrowly defeating Taylor in an enthralling contest. It was Taylor’s first defeat since turning pro in 2016 and Cameron deserves immense credit for beating a magnificent champion who had craved a successful homecoming.