Katie Taylor Set for Delfine Persoon Title Bout Rematch
Irish boxer Katie Taylor last met Delfine Persoon in a bout at the Madison Square Garden as the undercard for the Anthony Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz Jr. heavyweight title fight. After a series of issues in the pre-fight week that Persoon’s manager called “totally disrespectful” and “psychological warfare”, Taylor won a majority decision that was controversial, becoming the undisputed lightweight champion.

Postponed

Taylor was scheduled to defend her lightweight title this May against Amanda Serrano, seven-division world champion and current WBO and WBC interim female featherweight champion. The global pandemic, in turn, seems to have had different plans: the match was postponed due to the spread of the virus. A new date was set - July 4th - as well as a new venue - the Matchroom Sport headquarters in Brentwood, Essex. This, too, has been postponed, and in the meantime, negotiations between the two fighters’ promoters broke down, Eddie Hearn, Taylor’s manager, announced that he is in talks with Delfine Persoon's team to arrange a rematch for August 22. Last month, it was confirmed: the fight will be held at the Matchroom Sport headquarters as an undercard for the Dillian Whyte vs. Alexander Povetkin match.

The fight will air live on Sky Sports Box Office.

Katie Taylor

Katie Taylor is an Irish boxer with an impressive record. She began boxing in 1998, at the age of 11, with his father serving as a coach for her and her two brothers. At the age of 15, she fought in the first officially sanctioned female boxing match in Ireland - to victory.

Over the years, she collected an impressive pile of medals and titles: she won the Amateur Boxing European Championships and the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships six times each, the 2015 European Games in Baku, and won an Olympic Gold representing Ireland at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She is one of the only seven boxers in history - male or female - to hold the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles simultaneously. As of last July, Taylor is ranked as the world's best active female lightweight, and number one pound-for-pound boxer by BoxRec.

Delfine Persoon

Delfine Persoon is a Belgian boxer with an equally impressive record, having won 44 of her 46 fights (18 by KO). Aside from boxing, she is a railway policewoman.

She switched to professional boxing from competitive judo. She became the EBU European Champion in 2011, in 2012, she won the WIBF world title with a TKO, and in September the same year, she added the IBF world title to her collection, also with a TKO. Most recently, she won the WBA interim super-featherweight title in November 2019.

As of this May, she is ranked as the world's best active super-featherweight, and number twp pound-for-pound boxer by BoxRec.