(AUG 23)  Last night the rematch between Lightweight champion Katie Taylor vs. Delfine Persoon took place without an audience due to the pandemic. Taylor won by a 10-round unanimous decision, where the fight took place at the Matchroom Fight Camp, in Brentwood.  Final judges scores were 96-94, 98-93, and 96-94.   Taylor is now 16-0-0 keeping all her world title (WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO) belts.  Persoon is now 44-3 (18KO).  Highlights of the fight:


From the WBO Press Release in where they congratulate Katie Taylor then wrote the following:

Katie Taylor

On if she thought she did enough to win: “I think so. I knew it was going to be a tough battle going into this fight. It’s never going to be an easy fight against Delfine. I knew I had to dig deep at some stage during the fight but I thought I boxed a lot better than last time. I still could’ve boxed a bit more.”

On facing a relentless opponent like Delfine Persoon: It’s always going to be tough. You can’t relax at all in there against someone like that. She’s going to come and come and come. Even though I am hitting her with clean shots, she is just on the attack all the time. That’s why it is such a tough fight against someone like Delfine. But congratulations on two fantastic fights. They were an amazing two fights for women’s boxing.”

On if she silenced the critics of the first fight’s decision: “yeah, I think it was a lot more convincing tonight even though it was a tough fight. But as I said, it’s always going to be a tough fight against someone like that and you’re going to have to dig deep and show a lot of heart at some stage during the fight. But I think I did that well, I boxed well.”

On a trilogy: “C’mon, give me a break!”

Delfine Persoon

On accepting the result: “Yes, this time I respect the result. For me this time, the weight was a little too much. I didn’t feel like I had enough power to hurt her this time. I tried to get my weight up but I could not hurt her this time. And if you don’t hurt her, it’s technical and she’s good at moving around. You have to hurt her otherwise she gets away. The power was not enough. I’ve got no problem with this decision and my respect she deserves.

 

On a trilogy: “In the second round, I think I broke my nose so it was eight rounds boxing with my nose broken. First I must repair my nose and then I think super featherweight is better for me than lightweight. My trainer pushes me to eat, eat, eat but when you train a lot, it’s too much to gain the weight. My respect to her. She deserved to win today.

Photos by Mark Robinson / Matchroom Boxing