In a rematch, undisputed WBC/WBA/IBF/WBO female lightweight champion Katie Taylor (16-0, 6 KOs) took a hard-fought ten round unanimous decision over Delfine Persoon (44-3, 18 KOs) on Saturday night at Matchroom Fight Camp in Brentwood, Essex, England. Taylor won a controversial majority decision over Person 14 months ago, and this fight wasn’t any easier. Perssoon, who lost to an amateur in the Olympic qualifying, brought relentless pressure, but judges had Taylor ahead 98-93, 96-94, 96-94.
Unbeaten welterweight Chris Kongo 12-0, 7 KOs) punished Luther Clay (13-2, 5 KOs) air fight long, then got a KO win in round nine.
Unbeaten heavyweight Alen Babic (4-0, 4 KOs) demolished Chicago’s Shawndell Winters (13-4, 12 KOs) in two rounds. Babic floored Winters in round one, then finished him with another knockdown in round two.
Super middleweights Jack Cullen (18-2-1, 9 KOs) and Zak Chelli (7-1-1, 3 KOs) battled to a ten round draw. Scores were 97-93 for Chelli, 96-95 for Cullen and 95-95.
Another disgrace of a decision. Persoon won again and still they gave it to Taylor with some really ridiculous scorecards. No shame in boxing.
Persoon herself agreed with the decision…so…don’t know what you’re talking about.
The Katie Taylor-Delfine Persoon rematch was a terrific fight. I scored the fight 7-3 in rounds and 97-93 in points for Taylor. It wasn’t an easy fight for either fighter, but Taylor landed the cleaner blows in most of the rounds. Persoon is extremely strong and looks crude at times. However, she has a long reach, throws a lot of punches and is relentless. She also has the much bigger frame. Taylor looked small next to her.
Katie tried to box most of the fight and spun out often to escape the pressure. However, she stood still a little too long at times and got hit with shots when she stopped moving. Katie did land her jab followed by a right hand often. She also occasionally landed a left hook when Persoon wasn’t looking for it.
Persoon did land her share of shots although she also missed a lot and was often out of position after those misses. I thought Taylor should have made Persoon pay for some of those lunging misses, but there were times when Katie thought she was out of range but one or two more hooks came her way even with Persoon out of position.
Persoon’s strategy was to always advance, bully Taylor as much as possible, and hit her with a free hand in the clinches. The goal was to wear Taylor down significantly in the later rounds to the point where she could not slip to the side. It worked to some extent, but Katie was better prepared in this fight and prevailed over a really tough opponent. She was looking worn by the end but Persoon was looking even worse with a big gash under her right eye. Katie is clearly the better boxer, but that almost didn’t matter because of Persoon’s relentless pressure and long reach.
I had Persoon winning the first fight by a close margin, but Taylor clearly won the rematch. It’s time to see each of them fight other opponents. I really would love to see a Taylor-McCaskill match. I pick Taylor to win that fight decisively.
I missed it because I was watching paint dry, and I was watching two (2) snails race each other in my front yard!!! No further comment.