Olympic boxing gold medallist Michael Carruth has said Katie Taylor should exercise her rematch clause against Chantelle Cameron – as he would want to fight the person who beat him.
In front of a crowd of 10,000 fans in the sold out Dublin’s 3Arena on Saturday night, Katie’s first Irish fight on home turf did not go to plan. English fighter Cameron was scored 96-94 winner on two of the three scorecards with the third being scored as a 95-95 draw.
Carruth, who won the welterweight gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, said the Bray fighter was “under pressure from Cameron from the start”. Carruth, who turned pro in 1994 and retired in 2000, said: “Katie didn’t look like she was on full cylinders.
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“I don’t know why. Her ability to get in a brawl and stay in a brawl wasn’t there.
“Her sharpness wasn’t there. She got caught with a lot of body shots – and that’s soul destroying as it takes the air out of you. It’s tough.”
He said Cameron fought a fantastic fight and got her game plan together really well. Carruth added: “She put Katie under pressure from the start and kept her under pressure.
“I’ve never seen Katie go back so much in a fight. She obviously didn’t have the strength to push Cameron back but that’s the chance you take going up a weight division.”
Katie, the undisputed lightweight champion, had called out Cameron in a bold move to set up the fight. Cameron is the champion in the weight class above which meant Katie had to put on weight to take her on.
Carruth added: “You might put the weight on but you have to put the strength up. “You could see Cameron had a great plan, she walked Katie down as well, she had a great defence and threw some good body shots in at the start of each round.
“Katie just wasn’t on form, it wasn’t the greatest performance of her life. Sometimes you mean to throw your right and you throw your left.
“It’s one of those taboo things and unfortunately it didn’t go well for Katie.” Carruth said Katie’s first time fighting professionally in Dublin in her long awaited homecoming could have put additional pressure on the fighter.
He added: “Fighting professionally for the first time in Dublin could have thrown Katie a bit too, the added pressure. But then again she has boxed in the Olympic Games and world finals so she would be used to big crowds.”
Katie has a rematch clause, and is expected to exercise it in order to earn another shot at Cameron. Carruth said if a rematch is on the cards, he doesn’t think “filling Croke Park would be the thing”.
But he said that if it was to be in the GAA headquarters venue, ticket prices would be a lot cheaper. Carruth added: “The two girls are not responsible for prices of the tickets – it’s the promoters, management and the arenas – that’s the bottom line, some of the prices for tickets on Saturday night were horrendous.”
He said he hopes Katie does “get one more crack of it and take it from there”. Carruth added: “Katie has been such a role model for boxing, especially female boxing over the years, and the amount of kids who have taken up boxing because of her, is her legacy.
"And if Saturday night was her last ever fight, fair play to her – but I have a sneaky feeling it isn’t.” Katie was comforted by her mum Bridget and pal Conor McGregor after losing.
The Bray fighter suffered a shock defeat at the hands of her English opponent but did seem to leave relatively unscathed. The fight went the full 10 rounds with two of the three judges scoring the bout in favour of Cameron with a scorecards of 96-94 while the other two judges had called a draw.
Speaking on DAZN afterwards, Katie graciously congratulated Cameron on her win. She said: “I’m not sure [if it was a close fight] I’d have to look back it at.
“It’s not how I wanted my homecoming to go but I’m just so thankful for the support. Congratulations to Chantelle and thank you for this opportunity. I’m looking forward to the rematch. I wasn’t surprised how fast she was.
I expected everything that came my way but I just came up short tonight. I look forward to next time facing her. “I knew it was a close fight, every round was close but this is boxing.”
Meanwhile, UFC star McGregor also showed his support for Katie by saying it was a super fight. He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Sport won tonight, it was a great one.
“A very close fight. Katie went up a weight at the drop of a hat to make this event happen.
“She didn’t have time to build up to the weight. She took a chance.
“We had it a draw there. The nerves at the start of the fight set her back.
“She wasn’t Katie at the start. She was Katie from midway on when she started to come on into her own. Close fight but I’d call it a draw.”
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