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Cameron spoils Taylor’s Irish homecoming
In a stunning upset, Chantelle Cameron won a very close majority decision victory (96-94, 96-94, 95-95) over Katie Taylor, retaining her Junior Welterweight belts and giving Taylor the first professional loss of her career. Taylor looked to be in disbelief (or maybe pure exhaustion) as the decision was announced while Cameron sprung straight into the air with joy - both fighters clearly felt they had done enough to secure the win.
But, as close decisions usually are, this one was immediately divisive, with the boxing community online sharing mixed opinions on the outcome. I happen to agree with the judge who scored the bout 95-95 - to me, neither one did significantly more than the other to win, the fight was non-stop action the entire time but neither fighter got knocked down or terribly hurt. A draw would have made more sense to me - ensuring Cameron didn’t lose her belts, but also ensuring that Taylor’s record wasn’t dealt a blow by such a close fight. But, when every round of a fight is close, you up the odds of a judge seeing it differently from how those of us at home may have seen it. And Chantelle Cameron definitely came in with the heavier hands and tenacity that kept Katie Taylor on the back foot for several rounds, but Taylor also scored some impressive blows. Both women put on a hell of a show and should be proud of their performances.
Katie Taylor invoked her rematch clause, and Chantelle Cameron hopes to go down in weight to fight Taylor for her undisputed Lightweight belts. Excited to see what happens next.
“The biggest fight in women’s boxing right now is Taylor-Cameron II,” [Eddie] Hearn said. “So we’ll find a way.” via The Guardian
Terri Harper faces a new foe
The co-main event of the Taylor/Cameron card - Terri Harper vs. Cecilia Braekhus - was unfortunately canceled the day of due to Braekhus waking up with the flu. Both fighters were extremely disappointed, but Eddie Hearn sprang into action and found Harper (13-1, 6 KOs) a new opponent - Ivana Habazin - and slotted their fight for this weekend on the undercard of the Lara/Wood rematch.
Croatian Habazin (21-4, 7 KOs) is a former IBF Welterweight title holder and former opponent of Cecilia Braekhus and of Claressa Shields. Her last fight was a decisive win over Diana Prazak in October 2022.