Northampton's Cameron now ready to beat the very best

Her fight with Anisha Basheel was an eliminator for the WBC lightweight championship and the 28-year-old from Northampton won all 10 rounds on the three judges’ scorecards.

That result makes Cameron the mandatory challenger for the WBC title, held, along with the other three major belts, by Katie Taylor.

The Chron understands there may be a women’s World Boxing Super Series at lightweight later this year that will pit the world’s top eight against each other.

Should that happen, Cameron is surely a shoo in following her 11th straight win.

“The lightweight division is the strongest and most competitive in women’s boxing,” said Cameron. “So a World Boxing Super Series would make sense.

“That would suit me down to the ground, the best against the best, and it would do a lot for women’s boxing.”

Cameron was way too good for Basheel in Essex.

The 21-year-old from Malawi went into the fight on the back of eight straight knockouts – but struggled to lay a glove on Cameron throughout the 10 rounds.

She dominated from first bell to last and so one-sided did the fight become, ringsiders wondered if Basheel’s corner may pull her out in the second half.

Bashell made it through to the final bell - but only just.

Cameron said: “She caught me in the first round and I thought: ‘She’s got some power,’ but once I hit her, she thought twice about launching her own attacks.

“She’s big for the weight and I think she’s used to bullying her opponents – but there’s no way she was going to bully me.

“I’ve been sparring light-heavyweights, so I wasn’t going to be bullied by her.”

Cameron, who thanked her training team, including Driton Muhaxheri, soon took control.

She repeatedly beat Basheel to the punch with classy jabs and when she switched her attacks to the body, Basheel was in trouble.

She did well to get through the fifth and sixth rounds when Cameron really set about her.

With the fight under control, Cameron slowed the pace down, winning the next three rounds with her jab, before a big finish left Basheel relieved to hear the final bell.

Basheel, and her management, did their best to get under Cameron’s skin with their taunts and throat-slitting gestures at the weigh in.

And Cameron said: “It was really hard to keep my cool. (Trainers) Jamie (Moore) and Kelvin (Travis) told me to stay focused.

“I think Basheel wanted me to go out there with all guns blazing, but I listened to my corner’s instructions.

“She really did get under my skin. She was disrespectful. They were playing games to get in my head. They were giving me grief on social media for a couple of months before the fight and by the time I got in the ring, I wanted to make her look stupid for disrespecting me.

“I felt a bit sorry for her afterwards. She was really upset and I shook her hand to say: ‘No hard feelings.’”