When they last met inside a boxing ring twelve years ago as apple-cheeked amateurs, Chantelle Cameron was overcome both by her idolatry of Katie Taylor and by the Irish phenom herself. Last night in Dublin, Cameron proved that she long ago abandoned such youthful fawning and trepidation.
Defending her undisputed world super-lightweight championship against the reigning queen of the 135-pound division, she entered into the bout as Katie’s equal. In defiance of the seemingly insurmountable odds stacked against her–fighting a living legend in hostile territory before a rabidly partisan crowd–Chantelle emerged as Taylor’s conqueror.
Commenced with anxiety, anticipation, and pressure applied both externally and from within, homecomings evoke a head-spinning, heart-racing range of sensations and expectations. Some are celebratory affairs spent refamiliarizing oneself with cherished faces and landscapes that happily quicken the pulse. Sorry and somber are others, painful reminders of why we left in the first place and can’t wait to leave again soon enough. Perhaps a sampling of both dizzying ends of the spectrum, reunions and regrets that produce tears in equal measure, and a soul-searching trek through the peaks and valleys that lie in between.
Surely it was no different for Ireland’s returning hero Katie Taylor, running the full gauntlet of mixed emotions in Dublin not unlike the way she tirelessly runs the hills of Connecticut while doing her road work during training camps in New England.
“It’s not the way I wanted my homecoming to go,” a breathless and humble Taylor expressed during the post-fight interview, “but I’m just so grateful for all the support I got regardless. Congratulations to Chantelle for a fantastic performance and thank you so much for this opportunity to fight for your belts. And I look forward to the rematch.”
Though it was Cameron putting her titles on the line, she was being spoken of in the lead-up to the event as a mere participant, almost as an afterthought. The foregone conclusion reached by many was that Katie would survive an undeniably tough fight to triumph over adversity as she has done time and again. A homecoming coronation. The observance of a national treasure being immortalized in her own lifetime.
Speaking of which, former world champion Deirdre Gogarty was present for the occasion. The Irish pioneer, who boxed for eight years throughout the 1990s and is best remembered for her headline-making war with Christy Martin at Madison Square Garden, has presumably received more than her fair share of fan letters over the past three decades. One of those admirers who put pen to paper was a young girl by the name of Katie Taylor. Gogarty fought out of her hometown of Drogheda, which will soon be commemorating her legacy by erecting a statue in her likeness. She and Katie got to spend time together during fight week for the first time in over ten years.
The red carpet was unfurled at Taylor’s feet every step along the way from touching down at Dublin Airport to the 3Arena. What could possibly go wrong? Chantelle Cameron was more than happy to supply the answer to that question.
The morning of May 20 got off to an unceremonious start with the announcement that Cecilia Braekhus had woken up with the flu and was forced to withdraw from her co-main event fight against Terri Harper. Instead, Harper’s maiden WBA world super-welterweight title defense will take place next Saturday in Manchester against Ivana Habazin. The show would have to go on without them.
Flouting convention, the defending champion was first to enter the squared circle. Katie’s ring walk was a near ten-minute prelude to the featured attraction that everyone inside the packed house and watching at home was waiting for. This included Cameron, who patiently bided her time, waiting for her chance to take center stage and play the spoiler. As indicated by the boos resounding throughout 3Arena at the mere mention of her name, Chantelle was clearly cast as the villain by the Dublin fight fans.
Esteemed referee Sparkle Lee had drawn the assignment as third person in the ring, assuring that this momentous encounter was in very capable hands. Well aware that allowing this to be a scientific boxing match would work to Taylor’s advantage, the key to success for the bigger, stronger Cameron was to take the fight to Katie and keep pressing forward behind her battering ram of a left jab. Sure enough, just after Sparkle Lee motioned the two combatants together and stepped aside, Chantelle opened the show with four jabs followed by an overhand right, forcing Taylor into reverse.
Cameron continued to stalk Katie, methodically walking her down without having to give chase. A surprisingly compliant Taylor backed up in a straight line with little of her customary lateral movement, making herself a rather easy target for Chantelle’s jabs, crosses, uppercuts and body shots. A truly impressive punch selection.
Comfortable working off the backfoot, Taylor had her best moments when occasionally peppering an advancing Cameron with the lightning quick combinations that are her trademark. A straight right that connected flush on Cameron’s jawline was Katie’s best punch in the early going. But few and far between were these glimmering beacons of hope for the time being.
Unphased, Cameron kept surging ahead and was getting the better of these exchanges in the process of compiling an early lead throughout the first several rounds with her ruthless aggression. Chantelle’s formidable power and punishing body blows were having their desired effect, the impact of her punches audible at ringside despite the deafening football chants from the Taylor faithful giving voice in unison to their unbridled support. In the fourth round, and again in the fifth, one of Katie’s braids had come loose and her vision was compromised by the unfettered strands of hair, an impairment she could ill afford with her survival dependent upon defending herself from the power punches raining down on her.
In typical championship style, just as she had done in her battles against Persoon and Serrano, Katie Taylor began to turn the tide in the second half of the fight, swinging the momentum in her favor by letting go with punches in greater numbers and evading Cameron’s incoming volleys by pulling her head off the line and employing nimble footwork to skip out of the danger zone after initiating the eyeball to eyeball engagements that she was now coming out on top of.
Unable to resist a phonebooth-type scrap, and maybe sensing that she was well behind on the scorecards and needed to dramatically turn the tables on Cameron, Taylor threw caution to the wind by standing and trading with Chantelle in close quarters. Katie was throwing and landing at a greater volume, but was still absorbing hard shots to the head and body for her gutsy effort.
Down the home stretch, Katie put valuable rounds in the bank and the fight was becoming nerve-wrackingly close to call. Again, a familiar theme for Taylor. But this time was her rally too little, too late? A lumped up Cameron was showing no signs of letting up. That was simply not a luxury she could afford against a fighter of Taylor’s stature. And least of all in Katie’s emotional homecoming with the possibility of the judges being swayed by the crowd reaction and the historic immensity of the event and everything it represented to the Irish superstar.
The decisive rounds nine and ten were fought at close quarters with both battle-damaged combatants emptying their arsenals in the hopes of finishing the show with a declarative closing statement that would speak for itself when it came time for the verdict to be rendered.
When the scores were totaled and being read by ring announcer David Diamante, Sparkle Lee stood at center ring gripping Taylor and Cameron by the hand in anticipation of raising the arm of the victor. Patrick Morley had the fight dead even at 95 apiece, while Craig Metcalfe and Raul Caiz both arrived at 96-94 tallies in favor of Chantelle Cameron.
This event was conceived of and staged for the deification of Ireland’s boxing goddess. But the night now belonged to Northampton’s undisputed super-lightweight champion, who had just accomplished what many considered the unthinkable by becoming the first professional fighter to defeat the great Katie Taylor.
Two major takeaways from this. Cameron was the better fighter on the night and, beyond a shadow of a doubt, deserved the decision. She had expressed doubts about receiving fair treatment from the judges but ultimately reason and impartiality prevailed. As did Chantelle.
Secondly, Taylor’s legacy in no way suffers from this defeat. As startling as it was to see her adversary’s hand raised for the first time in the pro ranks, it is unavoidable when the best of the best fight one another. You win some, you lose some. It’s really as simple as that. People need to get over this silly preoccupation with a boxer having a number larger than zero in his or her loss column and that this somehow tarnishes their legacy or sullies their reputation.
Well before her loss to Cameron, there have been many who have wondered whether Katie Taylor’s best days are in the rearview mirror and how many more wars like the ones she has contested against Chantelle, Amanda Serrano, Delfine Persoon, and Christina Linardatou she has left in her. With that in mind, what is next?
The way Eddie Hearn is talking, Amanda Serrano made them wait last year to sign for a rematch with Taylor, so they’re content to put her on the back burner in favor of pursuing an immediate return bout with Cameron before the year is up. Hearn contends that this is not only a top priority, but the only one. Chantelle is game, and wants to flip the script next time by coming down to 135 and challenging Katie for her belts in a bid to become a two-weight undisputed champion. As last night’s winner, and arguably the new pound for pound best female boxer on the planet, it’s only right that she calls the shots.
With the Harper/Braekhus match scrapped at the last minute, the only other women’s bout on the bill was the curtain raiser which saw flyweight standout Maisey Rose Courtney improve her professional record to 3-0 with a six-round unanimous decision over Kate Radomska, who hails from Waterford, Ireland by way of Poland.
“The human mind is a fearful instrument of adaptation, and in nothing is this more clearly shown than in the mysterious powers of resilience, self-protection, and self-healing,” Thomas Wolfe wrote in his novel You Can’t Go Home Again. “Unless an event completely shatters the order of one’s life, the mind, if it has youth and health and time enough, accepts the inevitable and gets ready for the next happening like a grimly dutiful American tourist who, on arriving at a new town, looks around him, takes his bearings, and says, ‘Well, where do I go from here?’”
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