Chantelle Cameron dragged another great name into her win column and another set of belts onto her shoulders, grinding past Mikaela Mayer in a savage, breathless fight to become WBA, WBC and WBO super-welterweight world champion at MPW-06 in Birmingham.
Over 10 rounds, the pair delivered exactly what the bad blood had promised – and what the posters had sold. This was a fight-of-the-year candidate that actually fought like one.
Cameron, already the only woman to have beaten Katie Taylor in the pros, edged it on the cards: 97-93, 97-93, 96-94. Tight, tense, and earned the hard way.
“I just wanted to play with [Mayer],” Cameron said in the ring, the adrenaline still clearly coursing. “If you're going to say you'll stop me, beat me easily... talk is so cheap, and I showed that tonight. Don't talk too much game - you've got to back it.
“I want to do this again. It's up to Mikaela, but I want to do three-minute rounds.
“I'll speak to my team and see if Mikaela wants it, but - [to Mayer] - didn't you say you were going to beat me so bad that I wasn't going to want a rematch?”
A rivalry that snapped overnight
For most of fight week the build-up had been surprisingly calm, almost respectful between two pound-for-pound stars who know exactly what it takes to operate at this level.
That vanished at the weigh-in.
Tempers boiled over when they clashed physically on stage, security stepping in as a furious Cameron vowed to “smash her head in”. The animosity carried straight into fight night. Even the end of the first round needed policing, the pair bumping shoulders and squaring up as they walked back to their corners.
Once the bell rang, the talking stopped and the leather started.
Mayer came out on the front foot, trying to impose herself with pressure and volume. Cameron answered with cold precision, timing a left hook beautifully as the American advanced. The English fighter looked the heavier-handed early on, picking her moments rather than chasing exchanges.
In the second, Cameron stepped into a lunging right hand that snapped Mayer’s head back. Mayer refused to be bullied, responding with a right hook of her own and marching Cameron into the corner. The tone was set: this would be a fight fought in pockets of brutality, not at long range in safety.
Cameron’s timing vs Mayer’s engine
Mayer spent much of the third still trying to find the right distance. A short right hand left her open and Cameron pounced, cracking her with a sharp counter. The American fired back with a neat two-shot combination, but the pattern was clear – Cameron was happy to operate off the back foot, leaning on timing, reactions and that nasty counter right.
As the rounds ticked by, the space between them shrank. They began to trade more freely on the inside, Cameron clipping Mayer with a short right hook while Mayer dug stubbornly to the body. These weren’t highlight-reel haymakers; they were the kind of grinding, sapping shots that decide tight fights in the championship rounds.
The fifth brought one of Mayer’s best moments. She finally landed clean with a thumping right hand to Cameron’s face and then bit down, going toe-to-toe as both ripped brutal body shots in the pocket. It was ugly, honest work from two fighters who refused to give ground.
Momentum swings and a brutal pace
The pace never dipped. Both kept unloading to the body, neither willing to blink first.
Then Cameron shifted gears.
In the seventh she stepped forward as the aggressor, stiffening her jab and driving a right hand over the top. The change in posture changed the fight. By the end of the round, Cameron was stalking Mayer, walking her down, forcing the American to move and reset instead of dictating the terms.
For a fighter who thrives on rhythm and control, Mayer suddenly found herself reacting instead of leading. The exchanges were still competitive, but the geography of the ring belonged more and more to Cameron.
By the ninth, the toll was written on their faces. Swelling around both sets of eyes, Mayer nursing a cut, blood trickling from Cameron’s as the contest descended into a pure battle of attrition. Every jab, every hook, every clinch carried the weight of two elite operators refusing to concede the smallest edge.
They embraced before the final bell, a brief, telling show of respect from two women who had just pushed each other into deep water. Then, predictably, the truce ended.
“I did beat you Chantelle”
When the scores were read and Cameron’s hand went up, Mayer bristled.
“I did beat you Chantelle. You are lucky in your little back yard,” she fired back in the ring. “You can have your re-match. Three-minute f****** rounds. If you want to vacate your WBC belt you can do that. It's your prerogative now. I'll just kick your ass even harder.
“But it won't be here. It won't be in the UK. If you want to come to the US you can.
“I outboxed you. I'll go back and rewatched it and give an honest evaluation, but I just beat you.
“If the public says I'm wrong you can have that... my initial feeling is I outboxed her.”
It was raw, emotional, and entirely in keeping with the night. Mayer felt she had done enough with her work rate and boxing, Cameron believed her heavier, cleaner shots and late surge told the story. The judges sided with the Briton.
What nobody disputed was the quality. This was two of the sport’s elite pushing each other to the edge in a fight that never really took a breath.
Cameron walks away with three super-welterweight world titles and another marquee name on a résumé that already includes Katie Taylor. Mayer walks away with a face marked by battle, a simmering sense of injustice, and a burning demand for three-minute rounds and a rematch.
Few who watched them tear into each other in Birmingham would argue she hasn’t earned the right to ask.
