Irish superstar Katie Taylor was, in the opinion of some, quite soundly beaten by Chantelle Cameron when the two met in May of this year. Unified women’s lightweight champion Taylor, moving up to 140 to challenge Cameron for her unified titles, lost a close majority decision, yet some fans felt the scores should have been wider in Cameron’s favour. Nevertheless, Taylor gets full credit for taking the immediate rematch (as does Cameron), and the two will do it again, in Ireland again, on November 25.
Taylor, who lost her unbeaten record to Cameron, is now aged 37, and some people feel Katie could be coming towards the end of her illustrious career. Also, a good many people feel Cameron is simply too big and too strong for Taylor and that the younger woman by five years will repeat her big win. Might Cameron even stop Taylor this time? Taylor is having none of this, and she told BBC Sport that the night of November 25 “could be one of the greatest nights of my career.”
“I’m definitely looking forward to the revenge, I guess, and making things right,” Taylor said. “A lot of people are doubting me. I love going into these fights and people are doubting me. I think this could be one of the greatest nights of my career. No other fight to me would have made sense. Straight away we were looking for the rematch and it would have been a killer for me if I didn’t get this chance. The preparation has been a lot different. I feel a lot better going into this fight. I think everyone could see that I definitely wasn’t at my best in the last fight so I’m looking forward to getting things right for the next one.”
Taylor, who said she has had “a very, very different camp,” also believes she has a number of additional fights left in her, that retirement from the sport is still some ways off. Maybe. Taylor, 22-1(6) says she feels she is “definitely a better boxer than the fight before,” and that she is looking forward to showing off her new game plan in the rematch. It’s an interesting rematch, for sure. But again, is Cameron, unbeaten at 18-0(8) just too big and too strong for Taylor? It would be a great victory for Taylor if she were able to pull it off. We can never write off anyone as special as Taylor is but, aside from being the naturally bigger, and stronger woman, Cameron is pretty special herself.
Repeat or Revenge on November 25? I’m going repeat.