Liam Cameron is well into the second act of his career, but there’s no intention of closing the book on boxing anytime yet.
The Sheffield, England, man is 35 now and he missed a section of his career after testing positive for a prohibited substance. Subsequently, his life spiraled and a return to the ring seemed fanciful at best.
He has boxed Lyndon Arthur, Ben Whittaker (twice) and Troy Jones in his past three fights, however, and now he is set to face twice-beaten Brad Rea on Saturday in Manchester, England.
“Well, when wheels come off, I just keep getting new ones put on,” Cameron, 24-7-1 (10 KOs), said of his career.
“I’m not one of these fighters who will ever think about retiring or, ‘This might be my last fight, this one.’ I say it every time I do a hard sprint session, saying, ‘Why am I doing this? This is it, I'm done.’ When I've done it, I think, ‘Let's get the next one in.’”
Part of that, he admits, is down to having a second chance, and also to his friends within the Steel City Gym that he now calls his home, including trainer Pearce Gudgeon, Grant and Dalton Smith and the sponsors who pay him a salary each month.
He also heaped praise on Queensberry matchmaker Lee Eaton.
“I can’t believe what he's actually done for me sometimes,” Cameron said of Eaton. “I’m like, ‘I’m getting that much? I’m not supposed to get that much?’ I’m like, ‘I shouldn’t be getting this much, should I?’ I’m not used to this.”
Cameron managed to buy his first house after the Whittaker bouts and he bought another property with the Jones money, one to rent out and bring him in an income.
Rea, of course, is looking for his own success in the sport and, like Cameron, has been outscored by Arthur. That was in his previous fight.
“I think he's got a good heart – as in, he fights with his heart,” Cameron said of his foe. “He's determined. I do believe he’s going to make changes from his last two fights. I can sense that. We aren’t giving too much away. It’s a fight I’ve got to win and I should win. Why shouldn’t I win this fight?”
Cameron and Rea, despite having been in and around the same gyms, have never sparred. It was only when Rea was working with the late Ricky Hatton that Cameron first heard of him.
But while Cameron is convinced he must win, he knows that promoter Frank Warren having real depth at 175lbs means a loss is not the end of the world for any of them.
“As long as you perform well and give it your best shot, people are being rewarded by coming off losses into good fights,” Cameron agreed.
“Although I’ve got what I've got now and I am appreciated, I do think I’ve underachieved. I can remember when I was one of our top prospects in the country, who should have done amazing things, and just by being stupid, wrong decisions, being daft, not really capitalizing it. Now that I’m with this team and doing everything right, I’m capitalizing on it now. I was sparring pros [in the amateurs] what were British champions, Commonwealth, Europeans and doing numbers on it. I know sparring is different and I always believed. I don’t know what broke my spirit. I don’t know if it was back then; I know boxing has changed. I was [selling] tickets, fighting and coming out with 1,400 quid. And I was like, ‘They were killing me.’ I can remember once getting a paycheck, 1,400 quid and crying when I was a young lad.”
That kind of money (£1,400 or approximately $1,800 US) would not go far on today’s property ladder.
And there are many fighters Cameron swapped punches with in sparring that he holds in high esteem. He remembers doing 10 rounds with quality southpaw and former European titleholder Craig Watson early on. Then there was work with the likes of Frankie Gavin, Tony Bellew, Clinton Woods, Felix Sturm and Kell Brook – and Cameron rates former WBA lightweight belt holder Anthony Crolla particularly highly.
“He was trying to take my [head] off,” Cameron said with a smile. “But Crolla back then, I think, were heavier and I think I were lighter, I don't forget. I've come up weights massively from a 17-year-old. He was like 12-0 pro, 10-0 pro.”
He also knew that Brook, a future world titleholder, too, would make it.
“Kell probably won't admit it, but he said I’m one of his top five sparring partners he’s ever sparred,” Cameron said. “I got a phone call from Ingles to spar Kell. I was a middleweight, he was a welter. So I went down to that gym thinking I’m going to bash him up. And I’ve got a good guard. He punched through my guard with everything. And I thought, ‘This guy’s unbelievable.’ Kell Brook was one of the hardest sparring I’ve ever had, ever. And [Brook] brought people in from America and was flattening them – unconscious. I think it were only me and a guy called Tyan Booth what could really, in that gym, do like eight rounds with him. And another one, Dalton Smith. That was the same surprise when I sparred Dalton. He reminded me of Kell.”
Dalton has joined those world titlist ranks, too.
“It’s a massive achievement,” Cameron said. “I do think Eddie [Hearn] should forget this kind of [Conor] Benn bullshit and move on with Dalton Smith and bring him as his next superstar. Because I feel when Shakur Stevenson boxed [Teofimo Lopez Jnr] – and I’m going to say it like this – they chucked Conor Benn in ring for him to fight next, and I thought, ‘You've got a world champion here in the same weight.’ Chuck Dalton Smith in the ring. Give him everything. He’s done it the hard way. He’s gone to New York to win a world title. Give him the best effort you’ve got because he's your next star. Not Conor Benn.”
What about Ben Whittaker, who has since joined Hearn and who Cameron twice boxed. Is he not the next one?
“Yeah, I think he is on paper, isn’t he?” Cameron concurred. “Because you’ve got a following, haven’t you? And boxing’s turning now into popularity, isn’t it? So Ben’s up there [in] popularity. And he’s going to be great, isn’t he? But he’s not there yet; Dalton is.
“The only person really that’s going to trouble [Whittaker], if he’s progressing how he’s doing, is David Benavidez, isn’t it? He’s the man here, isn’t he? I know there’s Bivol. Bivol’s kind of a boxer – not a massive, massive puncher. David Benavidez has got speed, work rate, power. Beterbiev, he’s going to be gone soon. Another year [he will be], done.”
Cameron has recently signed a three-fight deal with Frank Warren. Misfits had offered him fights with Darren Till and Ty Mitchell, but he said no one was actually willing to fight him.
He thought he might be matched with Arthur once again, but Arthur now has a June date with another Warren light heavy, Lewis Edmondson.
But for now, Cameron has Brad Rea – and, if he wins, possibly another addition to his expanding property portfolio.
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
