IT’S the homecoming Katie Taylor always dreamt off and the fight Chantelle Cameron always wanted… The battle of the unbeaten Irish and English champions is one for the ages and Cameron’s coach Jamie Moore, Manchester-born and a former Irish light-middleweight titlist, says confidently, even a little apologetically, that his fighter will win and spoil the party.
Taylor isn’t interested in bums on seats, she wants to fight the very best and Moore stresses how much genuine admiration he has her. But all’s fair in love and war and his trip to Dublin for the May 20 blockbuster at the 3Arena is all about taking care of business.
“If you asked a boxing fan what the best fight match-ups are this has got to be right up there,” said Moore.
“I’ve got such a huge amount of respect for Katie and Chantelle has too for what she’s done, what’s she achieved but, at the end of the day, this is boxing and we’re going over to Dublin to win.
“You’ve got to give Katie massive credit for, not only accepting this fight, but going out there and pushing for this fight. Carl Frampton said that Katie could have fought his mum and still filled the arena out! And she could.
“By no stretch of the imagination did she have to take on as tough a fight as this one but she has done and you have to give her so much credit for that.”
Moore stepped into the lion’s den in Glasgow last year when Jack Caterall took on Scottish favourite Josh Taylor on the banks of the River Clyde. Home-town hero Taylor got a highly-debatable decision that night. Could lightning strike twice in Dublin? It could but Moore isn’t going to waste his time and energy fretting over that.
“You can’t worry about stuff that’s outside your control,” he said.
“As long as we do our job in terms of the training camp and I get Chantelle in the best shape she can possibly be in and she performs to the best of her ability then, if she wins the fight, I expect her to get it (the decision) because I expect other people (the judges) to do their job in the same manner as we’re doing ours.
“But I’m not going to worry about it, I’m just going to worry about doing the best I can for Chantelle.”
Josh Taylor is very popular in Scotland but Katie Taylor is on another level in Ireland.
“Katie is adored, not only by everyone in Ireland, but by people worldwide – all of us with Irish heritage, including myself,” says Moore whose mother comes from Kilkenny.
“Katie has all that pressure on her shoulders and Chantelle has pressure on her as well in terms of being the one who’s going to take on Katie.
“Chantelle is the underdog and rightly so, I think that’s fair, Katie has achieved so much and is such a phenomenal fighter that she should be favourite but as much as we love Katie we’re going over there trying to upset the party.”
The May 20 rumble is a fight Cameron (17-0 with eight stoppage wins) has been tracking for around four years. Taylor, the undisputed champion at lightweight, is stepping up to light-middleweight were the Englishwoman reigns supreme.
“Everybody in boxing wants to fight the best and challenge themselves against the best and Katie’s been the best for many years,” said Moore.
“A lot of people are saying that Katie has slowed down over the past few years but that can be a double-edged sword. Everybody slows down to a certain extent as they get older but you’re also picking up experience and the longer you go on you understand yourself as a fighter.
“So you adapt and I think Katie has adapted really well. She probably not quite as sharp and swift-of-foot as she was but she’s improved in other areas where she was a little bit weaker. I’ve been watching the best of Katie, I’ve been watching her from four or five years’ ago and I’ve been watching her recent fights and we’re expecting the very best of Katie Taylor because she coming home, in front of all her fans and that will give her the extra 10 per cent that she might need against Chantelle.”
LETTING his fighting heart rule his head cost Carl Frampton the chance to retire as world champion says his former coach Jamie Moore.
The gameplan went out the window when Frampton fought Josh Warrington for the IBF featherweight title in Manchester in December 2018. Leeds’ native Warrington (who lost the title last year to Luis Lopez who defends against Michael Conlan on May 27) jumped on Frampton as soon as the first bell rang and the Belfast man opted to fight fire with fire over the first two hammer-and-tongs rounds.
“I honestly believe that if he’d have stuck to the tactics and not let his heart rule his head he would have won that fight,” said Moore.
“When he got caught early I think he thought: ‘I’m gonna show you’ and that landed him in worse trouble. If he had used his feet and got himself out of that situation and let himself recover he’d have been fine.
“The first couple of rounds lost him that fight and if he’d won that fight then he could have retired as world champion. At the end of the second round I got him in the corner and said: ‘If you want to lose this fight then keep doing what you’re doing, if you want to win it then f**king listen to what I’m saying to you.
“Fair play to him, from the third round onwards he really switched on but he’d given himself a mountain to climb by that point.
“But hindsight’s a great thing isn’t it? He had a great career and he’s such a good guy, we’re still in touch every couple of weeks.”
Moore believes that Taylor’s loyalty to coach Ross Enamait has paid off for her. Taylor linked up with the Connecticut-based American after she turned pro following the Rio Olympic Games and has conquered the world.
“As a trainer myself, when you know a fighter inside-out you know how to work with their best attributes and you know how to cover over their flaws,” he said.
“You know how to use the best of them to hide the worst so I think sticking with the same coach is a good thing from Katie’s point of view.”
Taylor has the home crowd, vast experience, ring smarts and proven class on her side. At 36, age may not be and Cameron, five years’ younger, is in the prime of her life, says Moore.
“I’m so confident in Chantelle fighting anyone at her weight,” he said.
“I understand how good she is and the way I’ve seen her develop over the years, I think she’s probably coming to her peak. It’s not a slight on Katie but I just believe she’ll beat anybody at her weight.
“By no stretch of imagination do I think that’s going to be easy but I know Chantelle is made of stern stuff – she’s got such a big heart, she’s got a great engine, she’s got a solid chin and she punches very hard and has a fantastic workrate. She’s really smart as well, she has a good amateur background with Team GB so she ticks every box. But so does Katie and that’s why it’s such a phenomenal fight.
“Everyone’s a winner – we get the fight we’ve always wanted, Katie gets a great homecoming. This fight was so easy to make because the girls want to fight the best – both of them – and if we pull it off I’ll be absolutely over the moon. If we don’t then we’ll have lost to a living legend in Katie Taylor.”
