I don’t want to say I told you so, but when I wrote a column in October of 2020 about the next generation of women that were going to take over the sport, I had a pretty good idea that the ten ladies I chose were going to deliver.

And, for the most part, they did.

Alycia Baumgardner – 5-0 since that story ran. Took a title from Terri Harper, unified it against Mikaela Mayer in one of the biggest fights in 2022, and is on the short list of true superstars on the women’s side of the game.

Kim Clavel – Canada’s top export when it comes to women’s boxing, Clavel won a flyweight title in July of last year, immediately tried to unify but lost a hard-fought decision to Yesica Nery Plata, but got back in the win column earlier this month.

Seniesa Estrada – Another superstar in the making, “Superbad” has a pair of minimumweight titles, a growing fan following, and the backstory and charisma that ensures we will be talking about her for a long time.

Terri Harper – Already a world champion when the Ring story ran, Harper lost her 130-pound titles to Baumgardner, but roared back and won the WBA junior middleweight title against Hannah Rankin last September. On Saturday, she faces former undisputed welterweight queen Cecilia Braekhus.

Savannah Marshall – Won the vacant WBO middleweight title in October of 2020, successfully defended it three times, and while she lost a unification clash with former amateur rival Claressa Shields, last October, she proved she belonged among the best in the sport.

Mikaela Mayer – Won a pair of world titles, lost them controversially to Baumgardner, and is now campaigning in a new division at 135 pounds where she has an interim world title belt.

Estelle Mossely - Not as active as her peers on this list, Mossely has still added four wins to her record to move to 11-0 at 135 pounds.

Adelaida Ruiz - “La Cobra” finally got her world title in 2020, and one of the hardest punchers out there will likely start seeing big fights in the coming months.

Sulem Urbina - The only fighter on the list that didn’t move forward in the last two-plus years, Urbina went from 12-0 to 13-3-1, most recently getting upset by 5-6-2 Indeya Smith last December.

So what of the tenth woman on that list, Northampton, England’s Chantelle Cameron?

Well, she’s done all right for herself. In 2020, she was 13-0 with seven knockouts, and I wrote of the amateur pedigree that saw her face Katie Taylor, Rose Volante and Mossely, her first title win over Adriana dos Santos Araujo for the vacant WBC 140-pound belt, and how her early career stalled but was now on the right track. 

Fast forward, and Cameron may have only added four wins to her ledger, but they’ve been important ones as she halted veteran former champion Melissa Hernandez, added another belt to her collection in handily beating Mary McGee, shut out another former champion in Victoria Noelia Bustos, then beat undisputed welterweight champion Jessica McCaskill to earn all the belts at 140 pounds.

There are fighters with twice as many wins over that same period that don’t mean nearly as much as those four. And while Cameron talked of going up to 147 for a rematch with McCaskill for the welterweight belts, when the highly anticipated rematch between Taylor and Amanda Serrano was scrapped due to a Serrano injury, Cameron offered to go to the lightweight champ’s Dublin backyard this weekend to put her belts on the line in another true Superfight for the Irish fans who will pack 3Arena for Taylor’s homecoming.

Shockingly, the fight was made. Not shocking because Cameron and Taylor both wanted it, but because very rarely is an epic rematch replaced by a fight that’s just as important for the sport and the legacies of both fighters. 

Then again, we expect that from Taylor at this point in a career that will land her in the Hall of Fame one day. As for Cameron, her M.O. has never been to pad her record or chase easy fights. And while she hasn’t received the worldwide acclaim her opponent has, that may be coming on Sunday morning should she successfully defend her titles.

So, to the world outside the boxing bubble, the 32-year-old Cameron will be the new kid who fell out of the sky and into our consciousness. To Cameron, it’s been a plan in the works since she left amateur kickboxing behind to chase a dream in boxing, and while she isn’t one to get into any provocative trash talk, when I first spoke to her before the McGee fight, she didn’t mince words when it came to her goals.

“I'm coming to take over,” she said, and as the great Ali said, it ain’t bragging if you’re telling the truth.

And Cameron hasn’t lied to us yet. 

Is taking this weekend’s fight risky, especially with it being in Ireland, where every move by Taylor will be greeted with a roar that could influence the judges? Absolutely. But it’s also the act of a true fighter who knows that daring to be great is half the battle. The other half is simply doing what got her here for another ten rounds. She’s faced down pressure before against the likes of McGee and McCaskill and passed those tests. Now, she can change her life forever if she can beat the smaller, yet battle-tested Taylor.

There are doubters, just like there have been before. Some didn’t even think she would get past Hernandez back in May of 2021, but Cameron not only beat her, she stopped her in five rounds after winning the first four frames on all three judges’ scorecards.

“I don't say much,” she told me after the fight. “But when I'm in the ring, that's what I do. I just walk through people.”

If she does that to Katie Taylor, millions will be shocked. But Cameron won’t be one of them.