Chantelle Cameron ready to take away Katie Taylor’s Irish homecoming dream

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    Chantelle Cameron hasn’t got any big celebration plans as she plots to be the party pooper in Dublin this weekend.

    “I’m boring,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll go to my room and probably get a Deliveroo. Wait for it to sink in and think ‘Bloody hell I’ve done it’.”

    What she hopes to have done is ruined Katie Taylor’s big homecoming night at the 3 Arena in Ireland’s capital. The Irish star has never fought before in her homeland as a professional but this Saturday night that will change when she faces Northampton’s Cameron in a battle between two undisputed and unbeaten champions.

    READ MORE: 'Katie Taylor has been getting away with it – I've got what it takes to end her reign'

    Taylor has been denied the chance to box at home after a fatal shooting at a weigh-in in 2016 kept major boxing cards out of the Republic of Ireland because of insurance costs and restrictions from Irish police.

    Now she has her chance but, in Cameron, she faces possibly the toughest fight of her career. Taylor, the lightweight queen, called for a clash with the light-welterweight dominant force in what is sure to be one of women’s boxing’s best fights.

    But it won’t be the first time they’ve met in the ring. It was 12 years ago when Taylor outboxed Cameron in the semi-finals of the EU Championships in Poland. Taylor was already the queen of women’s boxing while Cameron had less than 10 bouts and had just quit kickboxing.

    Can Chantelle Cameron become the first woman to beat Katie Taylor as a pro? Let us know in the comments section below

    “Obviously she was going to beat me but I showed her too much respect,” said Cameron. “I was like ‘I’m boxing Katie Taylor’ and I was thinking, ‘It was only last week I was sitting in the cinema and I saw her on a Lucozade advert’.

    “It was all so new to me. I was boxing a famous person, who everyone worshipped. That’s a long time ago, it was amateurs, this is 10 rounds, smaller gloves.”

    Cameron feels it was surreal then to be fighting Taylor and has the same mood now. That’s because she never thought she would get the chance to share the ring with her again. But not because she’s in a different class to Taylor. It is more most felt she’s too much of a risk for her.

    There are some in boxing who were surprised Taylor called out Cameron for the bout when her original plan for a rematch with Amanda Serrano was dashed by an injury to the Puerto Rican.

    Taylor is moving up in weight, is ageing at 36 and facing a fresher boxer at 32 who has improved greatly since that amateur bout, is unbeaten as a pro and has won all four major belts at light-welterweight.

    It would be a shock with the bookmakers if Cameron ends Taylor’s unbeaten run but not to those who have watched the Northampton fighter’s career closely.

    If Cameron, who trains in Manchester with Jamie Moore, wins then it will earn her huge plaudits. Just don’t expect her to embrace any of it.

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    “When I beat Katie Taylor then people know who I am,” she said. “But I don’t care about being the superstar and everyone knowing who I am.

    “That’s not what I’m in this for. It’s about me retiring in boxing and beating the very best there is. I like my own space, I’m not one who would enjoy the fame.

    “I’m a quite isolated person, I just keep myself to myself. I come in the gym, be at home, I’m a boring person. It’s Netflix, chill, walk the dogs. That’s my life.”

    In fact, even getting a bit more known at home in Northampton freaked her out. “I was out for a run the other week and some fella pulled up behind me in a van and I s*** myself,” said Cameron.

    “I thought he was going to take me! He just said ‘best of luck, I’m rooting for you’. He wasn’t trying to kidnap me.”

    While Cameron never even knew who Taylor was when she started boxing, it was actually the Irishwoman’s trailblazing that got her to quit kickboxing for this sport.

    Her coach told her there was little future in kickboxing but with women’s boxing entering the Olympics in 2012 thanks to Taylor’s campaigning it could open career opportunities.

    “I cried when I had to give up kickboxing,” added Cameron, who never made it to the Olympics. “But it was the right decision. It’s all come full circle now. I’m here because of Katie. She deserves her big night but I’m going to wreck it.”

    Taylor’s homecoming party could be spoiled. Just don’t expect Cameron to go wild in celebration.

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