Brilliant Taylor takes revenge on Cameron

A SUPER display by Katie Taylor has seen her crowned unified super lightweight champion tonight, turning the tables on Chantelle Cameron.

Not used to being an underdog, the mindset of an outsider obviously suited her, as she was a different fighter to the woman seen in May, dominating the exchanges on the night.

Cameron tried all she knew, but simply had to give way to a superior force this time.

In the first fight Taylor was undone by a very slow start, and undoubtedly she knew that couldn’t happen again tonight if she were to have a chance. 

Taylor began the first very well, but with half a minute left she hit the canvas. However referee Roberto Ramirez didn’t give the knockdown, although it looked like a huge let off for the home fighter.

Arguably Cameron won that round, but after that Taylor was on top for some time. She took the second after landing some very decent right hands. The  third was clearly a Taylor round, as she looked very sharp when fighting on the back foot, and had success with a couple of effective flurries. By this stage the impact of a clash of heads could be seen on Cameron’s forehead, where a fairly deep cut had opened.

The Bray fighter was showing greater ring craft and took the fourth and the fifth also. She appeared to be growing in confidence as the rounds were going by, and Cameron, the clear winner in May, just couldn’t seem to make headway.

If Cameron was going to repeat the May result the second half of the fight needed to be much better from her perspective, and in the sixth she did finally see some success, starting the round particularly well and doing enough throughout to take it.

The seventh was the round of the fight, both landing some excellent shots on their rival in a thrilling two minutes.

After that enthralling stanza the eighth was a bit of an anticlimax, with a lot of holding.

Taylor landed the cleaner shots in the ninth, and as the tenth started all she had to do was stay on her feet. She did better than that, arguably taking the final stanza, and emerging a fairly clear winner.

One judge called it a draw, which was surely generous to the visitor, while the other two gave it to Taylor by 98-92 and 96-94.

“Let’s get the trilogy at Croke Park” Taylor urged in the ring after the decision, to roars of approval from the crowd.

Let’s hope it happens.