Why did Katie Taylor vacate her WBO world lightweight title after defeating Chantelle Cameron?

Republic of Ireland’s Katie Taylor secured a monumental victory over Chantelle Cameron in November and thereby avenged her only loss in her professional boxing career. Taylor is among the very few two-weight undisputed boxing champions in the four-belt era. It needs to be noted that there are only a handful of undisputed champions in the four-belt era.

Taylor is among the biggest names in female professional boxing along with fellow two-weight undisputed champion Claressa Shields and former foe Amanda Serrano. Taylor, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist is also a five-time gold medalist at the World Championships in the amateur circuit.

Why did Katie Taylor vacate her WBO world lightweight title?

Two-weight undisputed champion Katie Taylor recently vacated her WBO and IBF lightweight titles. IFL TV was the first to report the news about the WBO title whilst SkySports reported the same of the IBF title. The move in all likelihood points to Taylor’s ambition to concentrate on her career in the light welterweight division.

“Katie Taylor has now vacated her IBF lightweight world title and so the IBF have officially ordered Caroline Dubois vs Rhiannon Dixon for the vacant belt”, tweeted talkSPORT’ Michael Benson from the report from Sky Sports. In light of the decision, the IBF has already announced a fight for the vacant title between Caroline Dubois and Rhiannon Dixon who are both undefeated.

Caroline is the younger sister of boxing heavyweight Daniel Dubois who recently fought at ‘Day of Reckoning’. Dixon is a talented British prospect with a commendable 9-0 professional record. Nonetheless, it was Katie Taylor’s calculated move to concentrate on light welterweight that opened the door for the two ladies who are relative newcomers in the sport.

Taylor open to trilogy fight with Cameron

Katie Taylor vacating two of her lightweight titles meant that she was in for an anticipated trilogy bout with former undisputed champion Chantelle Cameron. The duo has only lost each other with both losses coming via majority decision.

The duo first met in May of 2023 when Taylor moved up in weight to Challenge Cameron in a back-and-forth fight that ended in a majority decision victory for Cameron. Taylor similarly returned the favor in November of 2023. Both fights were contested in the 3Arena in Dublin.

In a recent interview with SkySports, Taylor expressed her interest in the trilogy with Cameron. Moreover, she suggested that the trilogy being highly anticipated must be held in Croke Park. The Gaelic Games stadium can host 80,000 people and is best suited for the massive trilogy.

Furthermore, Taylor compared her rivalry with Cameron similar to that of Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. Morales and Barrera fought a total of three times with Morales winning the first via split decision and Barrera winning the rematch and trilogy via unanimous decision.

Do you think Katie Taylor will win the trilogy fight with Chantelle Cameron? Leave your prediction below!