‘I’ll go down to 135 and take them belts off her hands’: Chantelle Cameron on Katie Taylor rematch

Chantelle Cameron scored the biggest win of her career on Saturday by beating Katie Taylor in Dublin, retaining her undisputed 140 lb championship in the process.

A rematch will happen in the autumn, as it’s in the contract, and Taylor (22-1, 6 KO) and promoter Eddie Hearn have already said they’ll be doing it. It’s probable that the second fight will also be in Dublin.

But Cameron (18-0, 8 KO) has thrown a bit of a wrinkle in, saying she’s not just willing, but wants to go down to lightweight and challenge Taylor for her undisputed crown at 135.

“I’m kinda sick of putting my belts on the line,” Cameron said with a bit of a smile. “How about one of these put their belts on the line? I’ll go down to 135 and take them belts off her hands. I don’t think I should keep defending my belts. I’ll take their belts now. I’ll go down to lightweight.”

Cameron’s last two fights have both been against undisputed champions from other divisions. Jessica McCaskill was undisputed at welterweight when she went down to 140 to fight Cameron last November, and then of course on Saturday, Taylor came up from 135.

Cameron was a 135 lb fighter, even dabbling at 130, before moving up in weight in 2019 as she looked to chase world titles of her own, feeling at the time that she would not soon get a crack at Taylor. She won the WBC title in 2020, added the IBF belt in 2021, and then added the vacant WBA and WBO belts with the win over McCaskill.