Chantelle Cameron has confirmed that negotiations for a 'super-fight' with Claressa Shields are progressing well, with hopes of agreeing a bout for early next year. The former undisputed super-lightweight champion currently holds three of the four major world titles at super-welterweight after outclassing Mikaela Mayer in Birmingham in August.
Talks progressing over weight
Cameron, already the WBO champion, added the WBC and WBA belts to her collection with that victory, and her focus has now switched to American superstar Shields. The former Olympian is one of the most decorated fighters in boxing, having recently moved up to heavyweight before returning to middleweight in the summer.
Immediately after dealing with Mayer, Cameron, 35, insisted she would love to 'roll the dice' against the five-weight champion, with Shields telling her on social media 'if you'd like to rumble let me know.' Any bout with the 'GWOAT' would likely require a considerable step up in weight for Cameron, who has never fought beyond the 150lbs mark.
Shields has previously fought at the 154lbs limit, where she also ruled as undisputed world champion, but has not fought at that weight since 2021. However, talks between Shields' camp and Most Valuable Promotions are progressing well, says Cameron, who wants to jump straight into another huge fight in early 2027.
Cameron: 'It's looking really positive'
'It's looking really positive,' Cameron told Metro. 'My team is talking to her team and we are going back and forth a bit but we are making movement which is incredible.
'If it gets across the line, it's a super-fight. The fights that I want. There is a big weight difference but it is about chasing my legacy. When the time does come to hang up my gloves I want to say I boxed Katie Taylor, I boxed Mikaela Mayer, and I boxed Claressa Shields. It's the one I want now and I think it's the one she wants now too. I need that fear in me to bring the best out of me.
'She's whitewashed everyone, she hasn't really got a dent put in her. I have to give her a hard fight. I'm not just another opponent.'
Weight negotiations ongoing
Conversations over what weight the bout will be fought at are ongoing, with Cameron confident an agreement will be met. '[The weight] is where the negotiations are happening now. But I wouldn't go up to heavyweight, the max I've ever been is 150. But I know she's not going to come down to 150. So the teams at the minute are back in forth. But it's all sounding very positive.'
Cameron suffered a cut above her eye in the ninth round against Mayer that is likely to delay any plans for a return until the new year. Her victory over the American came three years on from her battles with Katie Taylor, becoming the first and only woman to beat the Irish superstar in professional boxing with a masterclass performance in Dublin in May 2023, before losing the rematch in the Irish capital six months later.
Restored self-belief after Mayer win
Cameron picked up four wins on the bounce after those bouts with Taylor, but it was her dominant display over Mayer that truly restored some self-belief. 'I was on a massive high when I beat Katie and after that I came down on a massive low,' Cameron said. 'I felt like I spend the last two-and-a-half years in no-man's land. I wasn't getting opportunities, it was really tough. I was boxing but I didn't have that spark. When the Mayer fight was made I knew it was my time to remind people again of what I can do. I proved that.
'There was a pressure of not beating Mayer. If I lost that fight on the night, everything I had done to that point would have had questions around it. I knew what was on the line, regardless of the belt I had to cement what I had already achieved.'
