by Mark Baldiwn

“IT TOOK a long time to get here. But right now everything is really good for me.” The opening words of a fighter who has often been swimming against the tide in her long and often problematic boxing career.

The sport hasn’t always treated Chantelle Cameron well. Maybe the understatement of any year. But she seems the happiest that she has ever been. The recent switch to Frank Warren has reignited many things. A fighter who just wanted to be treated as more of a priority. A fighter who just wanted a bit of love and understanding.

“Love-hate would explain my career in boxing,” Cameron told Boxing News. “When I love it, I am in a very good place. But when I hate it, I just can’t be bothered with it. But it is all I have ever done since I was a kid, so it is hard to walk away from it. The highs are so high, and the lows are so low, and there is very little in between. It’s obviously great that I get paid, but in some ways, it is better when it is just a hobby.”

During the dark times, there have been thoughts of walking away, Cameron says. “There are loads of times when I have thought what is the point of this. The money is obviously good when you get to this level. But mentally, is it really worth it. I have had this conversation with the people that I am close to all the time. It’s a very challenging job. But I have built some very strong shoulders. Now, I just ride the highs and the lows. I just cruise with them. I have been in the sport a long time, and I think I have just got hardened to it now.

“I love fighting, and why should I walk away just because of all the politics in the sport. I love fighting, and I am good at it, and walking away would be the coward thing to do. I am not going to let other people push me out of the sport. I will go when I say so. It’s like a drug. The sport is so addictive and you are always waiting for the next buzz as well. That’s why so many boxers struggle in retirement because that’s the difficult part. What’s your purpose now. You have no structure.”

Cameron is currently writing her final chapter in the sport. But the ambitions are still high. Redemption, revenge and closure are what the former world undisputed super-lightweight champion hopes will be how her career closes out. But despite the fire still burning, there is also one eye on life without boxing.

“I am planning now. I am setting things up. I’m getting my own gym. I am putting myself into position, so I am one of those boxers that walk away happy. I don’t want to be someone who always comes back knowing my body can’t do it anymore, but my brain won’t let go. I want to leave the sport when I want and know that I will be stable after I’ve gone. I have very good people around me, so I am very blessed.”

The greatest night in Cameron’s career came when she beat Katie Taylor in Ireland. (Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)

The two incredible fights with Katie Taylor in 2023 were marred by the internal politics that overshadowed two truly memorable nights. As a consequence, that emotional victory over Taylor in Dublin in their first meeting has got lost in the story somewhat. The story should then have been primarily about Cameron and that famous win. Sadly, the plaudits didn’t come her way. The narrative always lied elsewhere. But Cameron still remembers that first fight in positive terms despite everything that came after.

“I beat the Queen of boxing on her homecoming. I did what I set out to do, I became undisputed, and I cemented that by beating Katie Taylor. I have completed boxing. That’s why I am in a better mind space now. I have a good team around me. What a position to be in. How many people can say that they have achieved what they set out to do? I have nothing to prove to anyone, and I am just going to have some fun now.”

Cameron had her first fight under the Queensberry banner in July, a points victory over the incredibly tough Elhem Mekhaled in Birmingham. In many ways, a fight where lessons were learned.

“I was so poorly. I had a sinus and chest infection,” Cameron says of her first appearance since losing her unbeaten record to Taylor in Dublin. “I had to fight. I had to bounce back from the loss to Katie. It was my Queensberry debut. It was one of them where I knew I had to fight. In women’s boxing lately, we have had a lot of the women being inactive. For me, I had been given a date and given an opportunity, and I just had to get through it. That’s not taking anything away from my opponent. She was tough and a good opponent, but honestly, I was so ill. But I have learned my lesson, and next time, I won’t fight if I am that poorly again.”

The road back to regaining her world titles continues came against the former world champion Patricia Berghult on November 2. A fight that Cameron fully intended on making a real statement and sending a little warning to her rivals.

“I just want to put in a good performance,” Cameron relayed to Boxing News before the fight. “I am not going to give myself a pat on the back for my last performance because I know I can do a whole lot better. I want to remind everyone who is the top super-lightweight in the world. I am not going to put too much pressure on myself, but at the same time, I do need to showcase what I can do. I’ve changed a lot since I changed trainers and I need to put that on show now.

“I am very grateful that Queensberry are getting me active because a lot of the girls are not getting out. I won’t get complacent, and I am taking these fights like they are for a world title. At the end of the day, if you get complacent, that’s how you get found out. I am just glad that I am active and getting the fights in.”

The win over Berghult should see Cameron back on the big stage in 2025. With Taylor and Amanda Serrano having settled their differences, the super-lightweight ranks should have a little more clarity. Make no mistake, though, Cameron wants Taylor again. A rivalry that she sees very much as unfinished business.

“I want the Katie Taylor trilogy. I want my crack at redemption. So that will always be my main priority. That’s what I want, and it would be a real shame if that third fight never happens. But you can’t force someone to do what they don’t want to do.”

If the road back to world titles is blocked at 140, Cameron also has options to seek out new challenges at welterweight. A fight with the IBF title holder Natasha Jonas has long been simmering in the background. Two friends who would have no issues sharing a ring together. But Mikaela Mayer, now a two-weight world champion herself courtesy of her recent hard-fought win over Sandy Ryan in New York that earned the American the WBO welterweight title is now also a live possibility. “I would love the Mikaela Mayer fight, I have a lot of respect for her,” Cameron says of a possible fight with Mayer.

But whoever Cameron faces next if she gets past Berghult in November, there are plenty of options going forward for her.

“I want to be in the big fights and become a world champion again. But I just want to be happy and enjoy fighting again.” It’s probably those final words that are the key for Chantelle Cameron. Boxing has been both cruel and kind to her. A fighter at times badly misrepresented with her words taken out of context. But things have changed in recent times. The change of promoter has rekindled that love for the sport and reminded her of everything that can be good about boxing. Cameron seems genuinely happy. That is perhaps her greatest victory to date.