Briton Chantelle Cameron delivered the first defeat of Katie Taylor’s career to retain her undisputed light-welterweight crown in Dublin.
Taylor’s homecoming was six years in the making, but the undisputed lightweight champion could not deliver the dream result for her supporters.
Cameron’s class shone through in a relentlessly paced contest, with one judge scoring it a 95-95 draw.
The other two scorecards read 96-94 to Cameron, who extends her undefeated record to 23 wins with a majority decision win.
Taylor, 36, suffered her first loss since crashing out of the 2016 Rio Olympics and was visibly gutted when Cameron was announced the winner.
But the Bray native was humble in defeat with Cameron a worthy winner after producing a career-best performance in the most hostile of environments.
Despite a clear-cut result, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed the rematch would happen in the autumn in Dublin.
In a career brimming full of incredible achievements, Taylor’s homecoming will surely go down as one of her most memorable nights, despite not being one of her most accomplished performances.
Pro boxing in Ireland has been on its knees since the gangland shooting at weigh-in at the Regency hotel in 2016 effectively ended big time boxing in the country and it is only fitting that potentially Ireland’s greatest ever boxer was the one who brought it back.
Taylor waited her entire pro career, 22 fights, to fight at home again and was competing as the challenger for the first time in four years.
Cameron has not been afforded any of the trappings of the champion this week, her name was second on the posters and she was the first to make her ring walk, breaking from tradition.
Many had wondered whether the occasion would overawe Cameron, but she cut a relaxed figure as ‘Don’t worry about a thing’ rang out during her ring walk.
If you were deafened by Gary Cully’s entrance, ears were melting when Taylor made her entrance just before 11pm in Dublin.
The first glimpse of Taylor ensured the noise reached new levels, while a shadow-boxing Cameron turned away in the ring when her challenger finally appeared.
Taylor’s ring entrance lasted twice as long, as she soaked up every second of her long-awaited homecoming.
She stopped at the ropes to take one last look at the 9,000 capacity crowd before entering the ring.
Cameron had vowed to swarm Taylor and she made good on that promise in the opening round, piling the pressure on her opponent and rarely firing single punches.
Taylor was fighting on the backfoot, trying to deliver counters as Cameron continued to push the pace.
Cameron might have been the aggressor, but the crowd roared whenever Taylor’s renowned accuracy shone through.
Taylor landed a right, left combination at her trademark lightning speed in the second to huge roars, but those moments of success were fleeting.
Cameron came out quickly in the second, producing a lovely combination on the backfoot as Taylor moved in.
Taylor was able to respond moments later and was trying to push Cameron back with straight hands, but could not stop the champion pouring forward.
Cameron’s corner were urging her to fire at Taylor’s body at every opportunity and she followed those instructions early in the fourth to great success.
The partisan crowd, however, would erupt with every punch Taylor landed, no matter how glancing.
Cameron remained dominant on the front foot and Taylor’s hair began to fall out of her plaits as she tried her best to time power counters.
Taylor was now moving at break-neck speed trying to avoid Cameron.
Cameron had more success again in the fifth, targeting the challenger’s body and imposing herself on her brilliantly.
The rivals stood in the centre of the ring in the sixth, content to box up close as Taylor pinged off Cameron’s head at speed but as she had done through the entire fight, Cameron responded with her own heavy shots and never appeared troubled.
Cameron then enjoyed a stellar seventh round, landing a right hand in the opening seconds and more heavy punches to the body of Taylor.
Just as Cameron appeared to be taking over in the eighth, Taylor sparked into life and was urged by the crowd to stand and fight with Cameron, who was able to land a sharp uppercut.
The eighth bell arrived with both women swinging from the hips.
The penultimate round saw Taylor desperately trying to wrestle control from Cameron, but the champion was able to smother the Irishwoman’s work and land her own shots.
The two women lowered their heads and went toe-to-toe again, but once again Cameron appeared to come off the better in exchanges and strolled back to her corner confidently for the final instructions.
The fight’s pace barely slowed throughout and Taylor, sensing she needed a big finish, began to step forward in the final round and punch in threes and fours.
Cameron tagged her challenger with short rights as the crowd began to chant ‘Katie, Katie’ trying to encourage their fighter.
The final bell went but there was apprehension inside the arena as both fighters’ teams celebrated.
There were several nervous minutes for Cameron’s team as they awaited the results and would have been forgiven for fearing the worst when the first scorecard was announced as a draw.
Two 96-94 might have been too kind to Taylor’s performance, but she will have the opportunity to immediately seek revenge, and at home again later this year.
