Mikaela Mayer and Chantelle Cameron need not marinate Saturday night's main event with any further spice, but few will grumble over a new dimension to the rivalry. Each had been complimentary of the other's accolades, willingly acknowledging the elite talents of one another and mutually admiring the ease at which a rare pound-for-pound collision has come to fruition as they teased a fight-of-the-year contender. But a subdued build-up exploded into life on Friday as the pair needed to be split by security after butting heads and trading insults at a surprise clash during their weigh-in.
"I've had some heated build-ups before, but that's only because it was just very genuine and authentic," WBA and WBC champion Mayer had told Sky Sports, speaking ahead of the weigh-in. "I didn't go looking for it. And Chantelle seems to be a pretty chill, down-to-earth person, so I don't think she would even go there if she felt some type of way." WBO belt-holder Cameron, also in reference to their relaxed build-up, had added: "I think it shows we're two great fighters.
You don't need all the trash talk and the bad blood. Just putting on a circus is not needed. We're just two good fighters that are going to beat each other up." Intentional or not, things would turn up a notch on the eve of their super-welterweight world title showdown in Birmingham.
By the end Cameron had vowed to "smash her head in". Before now it loomed as a fight capable of selling itself based on resume, based on skillset and based on the magnitude of two greatness-bound fighters sharing the ring; Mayer arrives as a three-weight world champion, while Cameron has reigned in two weight classes and as the only woman to defeat the great Katie Taylor as a professional. The closely-matched pair had prompted familiar fence-sitting among peers and pundits understandably struggling to forecast Saturday's headline act.
"I know I believe in myself, she believes in herself and the exciting part about this is we genuinely both think that we're better fighters," said Mayer. "Now we get to go in there and prove it. "I think it's split in the public.
Half the people think that Chantelle's a better fighter, and half the people think that I'm the better fighter. So that's what's going to sell this fight. "I know I'm going to win, but the public doesn't.
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