Liam Cameron spent years in the shadows, caving to his addictions, lost from boxing having been suspended.
Cameron had tested positive for cocaine the night of his 2018 victory over Nicky Jenman, which was changed to a No Contest after the findings were made public.
Cameron thought his career was all over for years. A former ABA champion, the light heavyweight is now enjoying the most lucrative and high-profile section of his career and on Saturday is in another significant fight having come in for injured Ukrainian Daniel Lapin to face Midlander Troy Jones.
They fight at the Manchester Arena on Frank Warren’s big light-heavyweight bill, and Cameron admits this second act of his professional boxing life proves an interesting study.
“It’s an odd one because I’ve lost and I’ve drew, but I’m getting more success now than from having the Commonwealth title and the world ranking I had. So it’s a weird one.”
Cameron can only shrug when asked how that’s happened.
He does the same thing when asked about his popularity.
“That baffles me as well,” he said. “I don’t know how I've done it. I think it’s just that I show that I’m the lad next door. I’m no different to people. Like, when I message people back, they’re like, ‘Oh, I can’t believe you’ve messaged me back.’ And I’m like, ‘Why? I’m a nobody. Why shouldn’t I message you back?’ I don’t know. It’s hard for me to explain. I don’t understand it.”
Cameron gave Lyndon Arthur a good fight, then drew with Ben Whittaker before losing their rematch.
The first Whittaker fight, with Cameron really troubling the Olympic silver medallist, ended when both fighters tumbled over the top rope in Saudi Arabia and Whittaker said he could not fight on. But in April, the hyped star dazzled to dismiss Cameron in two rounds in Birmingham.
Cameron was more than in the first bout, but didn’t show up in the second, and he says that is to do with him, and not down to Whittaker’s vast improvements.
“Yeah, I can’t really go into it because it’d be bad,” he replied, when asked why the fights were so different. “Something happened, really bad before the Ben Whittaker second fight and I couldn’t pull out because the money what I was getting were unbelievable. I had to just get through it. My mental toughness kicked in again and got through it. It were really bad what happened but it’s finally over now.”
Much has been made about Whittaker’s recent signing with Matchroom, but for Cameron, now 35 – who debuted in 2009 – there was a good amount of expectation of the Sheffield fighter’s shoulders.
Cameron won his first 10 until he was outscored by useful Londoner Eric Ochieng and while there were some good wins, he suffered a few defeats and never broke through. Then, after stopping Nicky Jenman, Cameron failed the drug test that changed his life.
Cameron didn’t fight for five years and his life spiralled.
“I thought I was going to be a world champion,” Cameron sighed, thinking back to 2009. “I thought everything I would win…. I turned down boxing Errol Spence in America for England and a chance on the GB squad to go pro, because I was that confident I was going to be a world champion… I don’t regret nothing. I don’t regret the ban. I don’t regret anything I’ve done in my life. I’m glad everything’s happened because it’s made me who I am today and I won’t change it for the world now.”
Despite that, Cameron endured some real hardships.
“But it’s just destiny and I couldn’t have helped it either way, could maybe have had better people around me, but when we won the ABAs we didn’t really have a clue about business. I signed with the first manager [who wanted me]. I signed to work and I was boxing for peanuts. I don’t know if boxing back then were different. I never got shown on TV that much and I was thinking, ‘I’m grafting like this and I’m getting nowhere out of it.’”
Cameron admits that during the wilderness years, he did not think he would box again
“I got back into boxing by accident,” he explained. “I come just to get my life back on track.”
Cameron contends other fighters with more powerful backers have been punished less for more serious offences and that others have had their bans “thrown under the carpet.”
“And I’m sat here as a fat alcoholic guy watching them not get banned and I ended up doing five years,” Cameron, 23-7-1 (10 KOs), lamented. “I can easily say I wouldn’t take it [his failed test] back now because I’m content and that’s all I’ve ever wanted to be is content in my own self and having and I’ve achieved it – so if I took it back I’d be risking not having that.”
Cameron now trains in the Steel City Gym with Grant Smith. He’s in good shape, and his beard means in boxing crowds he is often mistaken for Artur Beterbiev.
“A lot have messaged me saying Beterbiev and they’ve clicked onto it [his pictures] and they’d have a joke…. I get Khabib, it’s a lot of these Russian fighters I get called.”
Although he gets those comparisons with elite fighters and how they look, Cameron is realistic about where his career will go. His British hero is Derek Chisora, in that “Del Boy” fights anyone and everyone. To that end, bring on more Arthurs and Whittakers.
“He’s a bit of a gatekeeper isn’t he,” said Cameron of Chisora. “So if I can be half that guy he is, I’ll be so happy. Bring all these names on and let me give them a test on that. I’m going to be in good fights, good venues, I’m going to enjoy myself doing it.”
If Jones defeats Cameron this weekend, he will move up in levels. Cameron knows how damaging a loss on Saturday could be.
“This is a must-win fight, though, for me,” he acknowledged. It’s just a must-win because to be fair I’ve had a year of this great stuff what’s been given to me and it’d kill me if I’ve lost it so I’ve got oomph on me back now. I’ll win by all means. I’ll fight. I can fight till death. I’ll fight non-stop and throw the kitchen sink for 10 rounds. This fight, I’ll be like that.”
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
