World News – GB – Chantelle Cameron: Katie Taylor is a dream fight, but she never mentions me

Chantelle Cameron has wanted to box close to home for her entire career She gets the chance to do so on Sunday, in the biggest fight of her life, when she finally gets the chance to put her Olympic disappointment behind she It’s just lucky that none of his family or friends could be around to watch

Cameron boxes Adriana Araujo for the vacant WBC welterweight title at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes on Sunday in the first Matchroom show since the end of Fight Camp The venue is about 20 miles from her home in Northampton, making it makes a rare home fight for the 29-year-old who has spent much of her amateur career traveling the world and her 12-fight pro road career Unfortunately, none of the family and friends who have followed her on long trips will be able to be there.

“It’s literally down the road, about 20 minutes,” Cameron said “I once boxed on an amateur home show, but that was it. So I’m really excited, I wish just that the fans can be there « 

It’s been six years since Cameron left the sport after grief over not qualifying for the Rio Olympics, when she was beaten in the qualifying event in Kazakhstan Winning a world title will compensate for this dark period

“If I win this world title it will put Rio to bed, 100%,” she said. “It was horrible It was also a little embarrassing, because all the others from Britain who went to qualifying qualified and I didn’t

« It was a bad stage in my life Then I went to the Europeans and got robbed I was boxing a Russian girl and I punched her head, but she made the decision C this is where I decided to give up I used to cry when I lost, but this time I just laughed « 

Cameron was considering moving to Australia, after being offered a position as a boxing teacher at women’s shelters

« I was moving away from boxing, I didn’t think I was going pro, » she said « My plan was to go travel and find a job Then I went to the gym and my trainer said that the McGuigans wanted to meet me « 

She spent the start of her professional career trained by Shane McGuigan and promoted by Cyclone, the company of Shane’s father Barry Last year she signed with MTK Global and changed trainers to Jamie Moore Earlier this year she signed with Matchroom It will be her first fight under this banner

“There were different obstacles,” she said “I became mandatory in two weights I won the mandatory lightweight in July and heard absolutely nothing Then I became mandatory super lightweight in November and thought something had to happen then But I was getting frustrated I wondered « how am I going to make all of this mandatory and not have a chance »

« Then I was told I was fighting Jessica McCaskill but she moved on so I wondered if that was going to happen Then signed with Matchroom and luckily it all worked out »

Araujo was more successful as an amateur than Cameron, boxing at two Olympics and winning a bronze medal in London in 2012, where she shared the podium with Katie Taylor The Paths of Araujo and Cameron however rarely crossed each other

“I was on GB for eight years so it’s kind of weird that we never boxed,” Cameron said “But we were at a training camp together in Brazil once, however. really stood out

« Amateurs are completely different from the pros and I found out in my last fight with Sanchez She was very experienced and the way she moved and kicked inside was different

« Adriana has a great amateur base, but she has only had six fights as a pro I expect a tough fight This is the only thing I’m looking at right now If I forget Adriana, I’m going to get beaten I can’t think or talk about other opponents now « 

The victory would put Cameron in the conversation to take on Taylor, the undisputed lightweight champion They boxed once before, 11 years ago, with Taylor winning a decision in Poland in the semifinals of the European Union championships Cameron has won the eliminators twice to face Taylor, but he didn’t go further than that

« Her name is always mentioned when people talk to me, but she never mentions me, I’m irrelevant to her, » Cameron said « I don’t know if she even knew I was obligatory for her

« It’s a dream fight I would love if it happened But I want to focus on me and she can focus on herself and if it happens it happens »

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for Boxing Scene He was a boxing correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001 to 2019 – covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights around the world He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications around the world since the 1980s

She won’t mention Chantelle to you, your too tall, fresh and generally your style, abilities and pace of work at this point in her late career would just be too much for her She knows she’s fading and that your …

Chantelle Cameron, World Boxing Council, Katie Taylor, World Championship, Joshua Buatsi