Irish Eyes Smile On Chantelle Cameron As She Successfully Defends Her Junior Welterweight Championship Against Katie Taylor

By: Sean Crose

Give this to Katie Taylor, the Irish fighter had little interest in going through a straightforward opponent for her homecoming struggle Saturday evening in Dublin. Instead the undefeated, undisputed light-weight champion moved up a division to problem undisputed junior welterweight champion Chantelle Cameron in an bold quest to turn out to be the reigning queen of two separate weight lessons concurrently.

The first spherical noticed Cameron come ahead whereas Taylor, cool as all the time, picked her moments to fireplace at her opponent. The second noticed Taylor land successfully on the aggressive defending champion. Cameron proved to be the quicker and extra energetic of the 2 fighters within the third. The excessive octane fourth was a give and take affair with every girl touchdown effectively. Cameron merely outgunned the challenger within the fifth.

Taylor had a much better sixth spherical, touchdown in combos and preventing Cameron up shut within the figurative cellphone sales space. Both fighters landed laborious via the quick paced seventh. Taylor wound up the eighth touchdown typically and successfully. Getting Taylor onto the ropes within the ninth, Cameron banged away. Taylor was extremely sport, however maybe not naturally large enough to persistently get the higher of the defending champion. The tenth and last spherical noticed Taylor wanting sharp, quick {and professional}. It proved to not be sufficient. The judges dominated in favor of Cameron by scores of 96-94, 95-95, and 96-94.

“I’m not sure, to be honest,” Taylor mentioned afterward relating to the choice. “I’ll have to look back on the fight. It was obviously a very, very close. It’s not how I wanted my homecoming to go, but I’m just so grateful for all the support regardless.” Taylor asserted that she knew going within the struggle can be a brutal affair. “I expected everything that came my way,” she mentioned. “It was a tough battle and a grueling 10 rounds. I just came up short tonight, and I look forward to the next time we face each other.”

Cameron, after all, was ecstatic. “I was petrified,” the victor mentioned of what the judging may seem like in her opponent’s homeland. “I’ve seen it before in boxing. I was petrified I wasn’t going to get this decision.” The time for worrying, nonetheless, was now over. “Katie’s a great fighter,” Cameron admitted, “pound-for-pound the best women’s boxer there is, and I turned up on the occasion.”