There remains hope for Katie Taylor to proceed with a long overdue homecoming.
Ireland’s Taylor and England’s Chantelle Cameron—the reigning undisputed lightweight and junior welterweight champions, respectively—have been vocal in their desire for a head-on collision. The terms would have to be reached quickly to preserve the targeted date of May 20 at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland. Both are promoted by Matchroom Boxing, who is working feverishly to close the deal.
“We’re looking at that homecoming,” Hearn said in an in-house interview posted on the Matchroom Boxing YouTube channel. “The 3Arena is available. Chantelle came back and said she wants to do it. We’ve got to agree on the money on both sides. We’re not a million miles away.
“But you’ve seen the reaction from that fight. It’s a tremendous fight. I think it can be a tougher fight than Amanda Serrano. Chantelle Cameron is a bigger fighter, she punches very hard. She’s believed for a very long time she wins that fight. Fair play to Katie Taylor. She’s incredible. You got Alycia Baumgardner, the undisputed champion one division below. I believe there’s a good chance we can get Taylor-Cameron over the line [this] week.”
Taylor (22-0, 6KOs) has long served as among her country’s most celebrated athletes. Taylor won Olympic Gold in 2012 London—the first year where women’s boxing was featured in the Olympics—and represented Ireland in 2016 Rio before becoming a two-division titlist in the pros, including her having fully unified the lightweight division’s titles.
Missing from the resume of the legendary 36-year-old fighting pride of Bray, Ireland was a pro fight in-country. A scheduled May 20 rematch with undisputed featherweight champion Amanda Serrano (44-2-1, 30KOs) was on tap for the occasion. However, it was indefinitely postponed when it was learned that Serrano’s pre-existing injuries would not heal in time to go through with the date.
Cameron (17-0, 8KOs) didn’t hesitate to raise her hand to fill in. The recently crowned undisputed queen at 140 pounds was previously led to believe the fight wouldn’t happen in May. That changed when Taylor took the rare step of calling out another boxer, posting through her social media channels that she was prepared to move back up in weight (having won the WBO 140-pound title in November 2019) to challenge Cameron.
“It was quite unusual for Katie to call out a fighter,” admitted Hearn, Taylor’s career-long promoter. “We know behind the scenes, she’ll fight anybody. There’s always that perception that Chantelle Cameron was a tough fight. I always said when Chantelle Cameron racked up the belts, she would be the frontrunner. That’s exactly what happened. She’s undisputed at 140 pounds. It’s a tremendous fight. Katie Taylor, looking at that Amanda Serrano injury, said she wants to fight on that May 20 date.
“We need to sit down with DAZN and go through that schedule. They already came back and said we need strength, May particularly. That was a big fight on the schedule and that needs to be replaced.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
