Biographie
Chantelle Cameron is an English professional boxer from Northampton, England.
Her introduction to combat sports came through kickboxing at the age of 10, moving on to Muay Thai at 16. After a successful amateur career, in which she remained undefeated and won titles in the IKF and WAKO, she made the switch to boxing aged 18. Cameron credits her love for combat sports to watching Jean-Claude Van Damme movies, as well as the TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), stating: "I loved all those fighting films. Kickboxer (1989) would have to be my favourite Van Damme film. The fighting in it is unreal. I loved Buffy because of the fight scenes and the fact she was a female role model."
Cameron won two English women's national boxing championships; the ABA in 2010 and the ABAE in 2015. She reached the quarter-finals of the 2010 AIBA World Championships, losing to eventual silver medalist, Vera Slugina, of Russia. She also won a silver medal at the 2010 EU Championships, and bronze the following year, losing in the semi-finals to the eventual winner, Katie Taylor, of Ireland.
In 2017, Cameron signed a promotional contract with Barry McGuigan's Cyclone Promotions and, under the guidance of his son, Shane McGuigan, she made her professional debut on 26 May, winning a 6-round points decision against Karina Kopinska at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. After scoring TKO wins over Bojana Libiszewska and Bilitis Gaucher in July and October, respectively, Cameron fought Edith Ramos for the vacant IBO Inter-Continental super-featherweight title on 11 November at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh, winning via 3rd-round TKO. A month later on 2 December, Cameron moved up a weight class to fight for her first world title in her fifth professional bout, against Viviane Obenauf at the Leicester Arena. She won by 6th-round stoppage, capturing the IBO lightweight title.
Her first defence came on 3 March 2018 against Myriam Dellal at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, as she successfully retained her title via UD. She next scored a 6th-round TKO win in June over Natalia Vanesa del Valle Aguirre in a non-title fight, before making a second defence against Jessica Gonzalez on 13 October at the York Hall in London. Again, Cameron won by UD retaining her IBO title and capturing the vacant WBC Silver title.
On 1 February 2019, Cameron announced she had left Cyclone Promotions and trainer Shane McGuigan, stating, "they know the distress they have caused me and how isolated they made me feel, humiliated and just deflated, they had no time for a female boxer." Following her departure, Cameron chose to link up with MTK Global and a new trainer, Jamie Moore.
Her first fight under MTK came in April 2019, winning via 2nd-round TKO in a non-title bout against Feriche Mashauri, followed by another non-title bout a month later, again winning in the same fashion against Vaida Masiokaite. Following the two victories, Cameron relinquished her IBO title "to enable other female fighters to fight for this important title and to enhance their careers as well."
After defeating Anisha Basheel in a WBC lightweight final eliminator on 20 July at the Brentwood Centre in Essex, Cameron gained the chance to face WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO and The Ring Magazine champion, Katie Taylor, for the undisputed female lightweight title. However, Cameron chose to move up another weight class to face former 3-weight world champion, Anahí Ester Sánchez, stating, "I am not waiting around for Katie Taylor. That's why I have moved up in weight for this final eliminator, because I want to face any world champion." After knocking Sanchez down in the 9th-round, Cameron went on to win the fight by UD and claimed the WBC mandatory position in a second weight class.
In July 2020, Cameron signed a multi-fight promotional contract with Matchroom Sport, while in early September, she was approved to face 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, Adriana Araújo, for the WBC female light-welterweight title, which Jessica McCaskill had relinquished in order to become the undisputed female welterweight champion by defeating Cecilia Brækhus. Cameron's new promoter, Eddie Hearn, announced that the bout would take place on 4 October at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes but, after Araújo failed to make weight, the vacant title was only be on the line for Cameron. In another dominant win, Chantelle earned her first major world title.
In May 2021, Cameron made the first defence of her WBC title against, Melissa Hernández, at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Nevada, as part of the Devin Haney vs. Jorge Linares undercard, winning via 5th-round TKO. On 30 October 2021, she took part in a unification bout against IBF female light-welterweight champion, Mary McGee, with the inaugural Ring Magazine title also on the line. The contest took place at The O2 Arena in London, with Cameron maintaining her unbeaten professional record via another unanimous points decision.
In November 2022, Cameron made history by taking part in the first ever professional women's boxing match to be staged in the United Arab Emirates, along with her opponent, Jessica McCaskill. The bout was the co-main event of the Dmitry Bivol vs. Zurdo Ramírez card in Abu Dhabi and was for the undisputed women's super-lightweight championship in which Cameron won a unanimous points victory over the course of 10 rounds in a one-sided encounter. With the victory, Chantelle also became England's first ever female undisputed professional boxing champion.
