Chantelle Cameron: “It’s going to be a toe-to-toe war”

By Boxing News - 09/24/2020 - Comments

By Ian Aldous: As boxing begins to resemble a form of normality despite the ongoing issues plaguing the sporting world, Chantelle Cameron (12-0) stands on the verge of becoming WBC Super-Lightweight World champion, when she faces Adriana Dos Santos Araujo (6-0) on Sunday October 4th, live on Sky Sports in the UK and DAZN in the U.S.

Her date with Araujo for the vacant strap will be her maiden under the Matchroom banner and expectant fans are eager to see Cameron put on a quality performance behind closed doors.

“I think it’s going to be my toughest fight to date,” the former IBO Lightweight World champion admitted. “I know her from the amateurs; she was on the Brazilian team. She’s really tough; she’s a puncher. I just feel like I’ve got the youth. I’m twenty-nine and she’s thirty-eight. I’m younger, fresher, fitter and hungrier. That’s going to play into my benefit. It’s going to be a toe-to-toe war, I imagine.”

“Expect a well-educated performance and a relentless performance where I’m going in there to hurt the girl.”

Cameron has patiently waited for her crack at the WBC crown. In 2019, she won eliminators in both the 135lbs and 140lbs weight categories, but the title shots failed to materialise. The MTK Global-managed boxer wasn’t going to hang around any longer.

“In the lightweight division, the belts were tied up with Katie Taylor and that’s why I moved up to super-lightweight,” she explained. “I was waiting to box (Jessica) McCaskill, but she vacated to box (Cecilia) Braekhus. I was kind of waiting on that and then it fell through anyway because she was moving up a weight.”

Northampton’s finest may well one day stand opposite the current reigning queen at lightweight, Katie Taylor. Ironically, Cameron held the one crown at lightweight that Taylor doesn’t possess, the IBO title. Despite moving up in weight, her success at lightweight isn’t over just yet and it wouldn’t be a shock to witness her face Ireland’s multi-weight world champion in the future.

“I prefer being at 135lbs, but I have to go where the title is. I’m not counting out 135lbs. I’d still go down there to fight as well. I want to win them belts and be undisputed champion. Katie’s holding on to them at the moment, but I wouldn’t rule out lightweight.”

“People talk about me fighting Katie Taylor a lot,” Cameron said. “Everybody wants to fight Katie. Katie wants to be in as big of a fight as possible and I’m still growing my profile, so I don’t think she’s really looking at me as an option, at the moment. I’ve just got to win these world titles and put myself on that pedestal where I’ll be included in the big fights.”

Prior to Delfine Persoon being officially announced as Katie Taylor’s opponent for their epic rematch in Matchroom’s Fight Camp PPV, the clamour on social media for Chantelle Cameron to go one-on-one with Taylor was clear to see.

“I was quite shocked by the amount of people that were actually mentioning my name. I don’t think she’s too keen on fighting me anyway (laughs).”

The aforementioned Persoon is another who’s been linked with Cameron in the past. Whilst Cameron was under Cyclone Promotions, rumour spread that the Belgian and her team were in talks to battle the then-IBO world champion.

“I don’t know because I wasn’t part of the negotiations. I’m just a fighter – I’ll fight who’s in front of me. But my old team apparently offered Delfine a fight a few times, even offering that I went over to Belgium. It never came off. I don’t know how true that is because I never saw it in writing.”

The October 4th bout will be Cameron’s fifth under the guidance of the well-respected duo of Jamie Moore and Nigel Travis. Eleven months have passed since she last stepped through the ropes. You’d think that would be sufficient to cause frustration; in fact, quite the opposite seems to have occurred.

“I feel like this has done me the world of good. I feel like all the frustration is going to come out on fight night where I’m going to be unleashed and let my hands go,” she said with eagerness. “I’ve been working a lot with Jamie and Nigel on technique. I feel really refreshed and hungrier than I’ve ever been.”

As women’s boxing continues to blossom, hit new heights and break records with regularity, it’s no surprise that Cameron is one of a plethora of female pugilists who want appeals to the powers-that-be to bring in three-minute rounds. They simply want equality.

“I don’t understand why we’re not getting three-minute rounds. We do exactly the same as the men, we train the same. I just don’t see the point in two-minute rounds – they go too quick. Three-minute rounds will be more entertaining and there’ll be more stoppages.”