Cameron ruins Taylor's Irish homecoming, wins all-out slugfest
Retains undisputed women's junior welterweight title in a classic
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Katie Taylor’s first fight in her home country of Ireland also turned out to be her first defeat.
Chantelle Cameron started very fast, kept the intense pressure on throughout the bout, withstood a late Taylor rally and claimed a hard-fought majority decision to retain the undisputed women’s junior welterweight title on Saturday night at the sold-out 3Arena in Dublin.
One judge had it 95-95 but the other two had it 96-94 for Cameron, who got the fight when featherweight champion Amanda Serrano bowed out of a highly anticipated rematch with Taylor due to an injury. Fight Freaks Unite also had it 95-95.
Taylor, who is still the undisputed women’s lightweight champion, said she plans to invoke her contractual right to an immediate rematch following the razor-close close defeat.
“It was a very, very close fight. It’s not how I wanted my homecoming to go but I’m just so grateful for all of the support regardless. Thank you so much,” Taylor told the crowd during her post-fight interview. “Congratulations to Chantelle. Fantastic performance. Thank you so much for this opportunity to fight for your belts and looking forward to the rematch.
“It was a tough, grueling 10 rounds like I expected it to be. I guess I just came up short tonight. I look forward to next time we face each other.”