Former WBC cruiserweight champion, Tony Bellew, has highlighted the two determining factors ahead of Katie Taylor’s undisputed super-lightweight title challenge against Chantelle Cameron this weekend.
During her outstanding career as an amateur and her twenty-two fights and wins as a professional, Katie Taylor has established herself as an Irish legend and a heroine for women’s boxing.
As an Olympic Gold Medalist and four-belt lightweight champion, her legacy is well and truly cemented, but now the 36-year-old looks to go one better, stepping up to the 140lb division in an attempt to become a two-division undisputed champion.
Her opponent is Northampton’s Chantelle Cameron, who is also undefeated in her seventeen fights and has been calling for the chance to take Taylor’s ‘0’ for years now after losing to the Irishwoman in the semi-finals of the 2011 EU championships.
Six years later, Cameron turned professional and won almost every round of her first sixteen bouts, collecting the WBC and IBF super-lightweight titles along the way, before facing Jessica McCaskill for the remaining belts in the division in November.
Cameron claimed yet another unanimous decision victory against the American, albeit in a much-closer contest than her other fights, becoming the undisputed queen and placing her in pole position for her long-awaited clash with Taylor.
In his column on DAZN, Bellew recognised the qualities of his fellow Brit and pondered if the task at hand is too much for the 36-year-old, Taylor.
“This fight comes down to two things for me. Has Taylor jumped up too much? Or will the size of the event get to Cameron?
We’ve seen Taylor take part in some hard contests over the last few years and in Cameron she’s facing an undisputed champion who’s at her very best. I can’t stop thinking whether this is a step too far for Taylor?”
One thing that’s certain is that it’s going to be an outstanding fight between two women who are an absolute joy to watch. Both Katie and Chantelle have dived headfirst into big challenges in the past, and the pair of them are set to do it again against each other. Taylor’s experience and Cameron’s size promises so much, and I can’t wait for this to get underway. It could be something very special.