Boxing: Shane Cameron's vow - another loss and I'll call it quits

New Zealand boxer Shane Cameron. Photo / Getty Images

Shane Cameron has vowed to retire from boxing should he lose to fellow New Zealander Kali Meehan in their heavyweight clash at the North Shore Events Centre on November 22.

This bout, for many the highlight of a Super 8 event which also features Kiwi
cruiserweight David Aloua against Australian Daniel Baff, will be Cameron's first since his loss to American Brian Minto in December last year, a defeat that was again notable for the cuts to Cameron's face.

Many assumed that would be the end of his career, especially as it followed a dispiriting loss at cruiserweight against Australian Danny Green.

Instead, Cameron, 36, has decided to continue, although another loss will mean retirement.

"For me, if I lose this fight, that's the end of my career," Cameron said.

Earlier he said of his loss to Minto, who was recently demolished by rising New Zealand hope Joseph Parker: "I never make excuses but in hindsight I shouldn't have taken that fight. I just wasn't ready, I wasn't right since that Danny Green fight.

"I lost the fire for the sport of boxing, I lost the hunger in the belly to train hard. I just thought I'd beat him, I had no respect for him. I should have done... Minto came prepared and demolished me that night."

Cameron said of Meehan, who will have a significant height and reach advantage: "I know what he's got and that's a big right hand, and he knows what I've got and that's what makes this fight interesting."

Asked whether Cameron was ready to get back in the ring, his manager Ken Reinsfield said: "He's a professional. He takes this fight business seriously. It's a tough industry, people get hurt, I've experienced that first hand obviously with Daniel McKinnon. Shane is fine, he's 100 per cent.

"Both of them know each other, they've done camps with one another and they've sparred against each other. It's not as if they don't know what they're getting into. This is a really exciting match-up, probably the best domestic match-up I would say since Tua-Cameron."

Meehan, a 44-year-old who was born in New Zealand but has spent much of his career in Australia, said: "I think it should have been me and David fight to see who was the best heavyweight of our era, not Shane. Shane is a good strong, fighter, he's got a big heart, but it's my job to prove I should have been there instead of Shane. As a fighter, that's something that is dear to us, trying to uphold our own legacy."