Highlights and results: Cameron spoils Taylor’s homecoming, wins decision

Chantelle Cameron held off Katie Taylor and retained her 140 lb undisputed championship in Dublin.

Chantelle Cameron retained her undisputed junior welterweight (140 lbs) championship, beating Katie Taylor in Taylor’s much-celebrated homecoming fight in Dublin.

Judges scored the fight 95-95 and then 96-94 on two cards, giving Cameron the majority decision win. Bad Left Hook unofficially scored the bout 97-93 for Cameron.

Cameron (18-0, 8 KO) used a tremendous pressure game plan and was able to physically neutralize Taylor (22-1, 6 KO) for much of the fight, though the Irish legend had her moments.

Taylor remains the undisputed lightweight champion of the world.

“I was petrified (of the scores), I’ve seen it before in boxing. I was petrified I wasn’t going to get this decision,” Cameron admitted. “It was a close fight. It was going to be a close fight. Katie’s a great fighter, pound-for-pound the best women’s boxer there is, and I turned up on the occasion.”

“(Pressure) is my strength, it’s my forte. (Trainer) Jaime (Moore) has had to hold me back a few times because I get hit too much, but I don’t mind getting hit. It was just one of them where they let me off the leash,” Cameron added.

The home crowd gave the defeated Taylor a massive ovation before she spoke.

“I’m not sure (I did enough to win), to be honest. I’ll have to look back on the fight. It was obviously a very, very close. It’s not how I wanted my homecoming to go, but I’m just so grateful for all the support regardless,” she said, before putting it clear that she does want a rematch.

“Congratulations to Chantelle for a fantastic performance, and thank you so much for this opportunity to fight for your belts. I’m looking forward to a rematch.”

“I wouldn’t say I was surprised (by how fast Cameron was),” she continued. “I expected everything that came my way. It was a tough battle and a grueling 10 rounds. I just came up short tonight, and I look forward to the next time we face each other.”

Promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed there is a rematch clause, and that they will come back to Dublin for the fight, likely in the fall, confirming that he does expect that to be next for both.

Taylor vs Cameron highlights

Undercard highlights and results

• Jose Felix Jr TKO-3 Gary Cully: Massive upset here, as Cully loses his “0” in pretty devastating fashion. Felix (40-6-1, 31 KO) is one of those guys you’ve seen 100 of if you’ve been watching long enough, has some power, but is limited, and his record has been built on a lot of fluff, with losses against his better opponents. But he had Cully (16-1, 10 KO) timed pretty well from the start here, and the 27-year-old Irish southpaw just did not seem to expect that there was serious danger in allowing that to happen. Cully flicked out a nothing jab that, had it been serious, might have easily controlled range and set up something big, but instead it was easy for Felix to ignore, and then he landed a huge shot for a knockdown in round three. Cully took a knee for a second knockdown, and then was rocked badly two more times before the towel came in, which the referee didn’t see, but the ref rightly stopped it anyway. He gave Cully every chance, but Cully was getting smashed around the ring and was really loopy on his feet. Cully can come back from this, it’s a wake-up call, but it’s obviously going to be a huge emotional blow for him to get this fight in Dublin and have it go the way it did.

• JJ Metcalf UD-12 Dennis Hogan: Scores were 115-112, 117-110, 117-110. BLH unofficially had it 118-109 for Metcalf, and the closest I could see is 115-112, even though the DAZN commentary, particularly Andy Lee, really wanted to make this out to be closer. Hogan (31-5-1, 7 KO) just didn’t do enough, and once again his greatest attribute was spoiling. He tried, but Metcalf (25-2, 15 KO) just had too much success, was bossing the tempo too often. Hogan spat his mouthpiece out several times before finally being docked a point for that in round 12. The win gives Metcalf the IBO title, if you take that seriously for some reason, like you think boxing needs a fifth widely-recognized world title.

• Caoimhin Agyarko UD-10 Grant Dennis: Scores were unanimous shutout at 100-90 across the board. I actually nicked the first two rounds to Dennis (18-5, 3 KO), but also expected the real judges didn’t, and I didn’t give him anything after, so there you go. Agyarko (13-0, 8 KO) and Dennis had sparred together in the past and boy did most of this fight look like sparring. Agyarko got rattled a little on a left hook in round seven, but also had done a bit of damage before that and did some after, in what was the best round of the fight. Agyarko was coming back from a hand injury here and hadn’t fought in 10 months, so you forgive some “rounds-getting,” and he did go for it at certain points late, but Dennis knows what he’s doing in there.

• Thomas Carty TKO-3 Jay McFarlane: McFarlane tried here, as he always does, but Carty was just way too good, dropping the Scot once in the second round and two times more in the third, and the referee made the fair and reasonable stoppage there, McFarlane was just getting tagged. Carty (6-0, 5 KO) has some potential as a heavyweight, and at the very least seems like he’ll be fun to watch. McFarlane falls to 14-8 (5 KO) with the loss.