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Katie Taylor: Irish lightweight to fight on as Cameron rematch planned

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Katie Taylor reels from a Chantelle Cameron punch in the fight at the 3Arena in DublinImage source, Inpho
Image caption,

Katie Taylor reels from a Chantelle Cameron punch in the fight at the 3Arena in Dublin

Katie Taylor says she has no intention of retiring and is looking forward to a rematch with Chantelle Cameron.

Cameron inflicted a first professional defeat on the 36-year-old Irish fighter in Dublin last weekend.

"I don't even know what retirement means - I definitely don't feel like it's time for me to retire," Taylor told RTE.

"The only fight that matters to me now, the rematch with Chantelle Cameron. We're looking at a November date."

Taylor suffered her first loss since the 2016 Rio Olympics and first defeat in 22 pro fights as England's Cameron won on a majority decision to retain the undisputed light-welterweight crown.

"It [retirement] will happen one day in the future, but now my sights are set on securing a rematch with Chantelle," added Taylor.

Image source, Inpho
Image caption,

Dejection for Katie Taylor as Chantelle Cameron is declared the winner

"I take it fight by fight and year by year, but right now I'm not going to end my career like that. I'm excited to step back in there and perform. This is my passion and I'm so grateful to be doing it every day.

"I haven't looked back on the fight yet. I think the right person won. I have to take the loss and move on from it. I'm just excited to get back to America to start training again for the rematch.

"There is definitely a lot I would do differently. That is part of a loss. You have to learn from it. You always learn more from your failures and disappointments [than your victories]. That is where the growth happens during those moments.

"I will learn from this. I definitely didn't feel myself in there. I did feel very, very tired straight away. I'll just have to go back to the drawing board."

It was a long-awaited Dublin homecoming fight for Taylor and a rematch with Cameron is likely to be staged in the city.

Other possibilities for Taylor include a second fight with Amanda Serrano but the focus is solely on another showdown with Cameron.

"To bring another big event back to Ireland would be very, very special. Hopefully it can happen. I'm very excited at the thoughts of it. I'm very hopeful of the future, that I can rectify this. I have a chance to get revenge and revenge would be very, very sweet.

"Obviously it's been a very, very disappointing week since the defeat. I've been in this situation before. I know I can come back from it.

"Life is all about ups and downs. Setbacks make you stronger. I'm determined to come back stronger and looking forward to the rematch, please God, if it happens.

"I'm just excited for the next step. It isn't what I wanted [a defeat], but I'm going to be fine and I'm just determined to get back to winning ways."

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