Chantelle Cameron Says Mayer Isn't Special Enough to Beat Her

Chantelle Cameron doesn't do false modesty, and she isn't starting now. With her unification against Mikaela Mayer locked in for August 29 in Birmingham, Cameron told Sky Sports she's rolling into fight week convinced Mayer simply isn't the caliber of opponent it takes to beat her.

That's a loaded thing to say about a fighter of Mayer's pedigree, but Cameron backed it up with the way camp has gone. She says everything has been clicking in the gym, and she's expecting a career-best showing when the bell rings this weekend. In her telling, when you think and train like you can't lose, you don't.

The confidence isn't hollow bluster. Cameron carries the kind of resume that earns a fighter the right to talk, and one line on it stands taller than the rest: she remains the only person to hand Katie Taylor a defeat. That's a sentence most of the division would trade their careers for.

Where a Win Would Rank

Here's the tell about how Cameron measures herself. She admits that stacking up world titles this weekend would be a big deal, but even a unification win wouldn't top beating Taylor. In her own ranking of career achievements, this one lands at number two. When your consolation prize for winning a unification is "second-best thing I've done," you're operating on a different level.

Cameron also knows the belts and the bragging rights don't count until the work is done between the ropes. She's not booking the victory parade before the fight, just refusing to entertain the idea she loses it.

For Mayer, the assignment is obvious: make Cameron eat those words. For Cameron, the message is that she intends to leave no room for doubt on the cards or anywhere else. Come Saturday in Birmingham, one of them finds out whether the confidence was justified.