Persoon changes tune – Taylor rival now argues she won the rematch
“This time I respect the result. She has my respect this time she deserves to win. I have no problem [with the result].”
Those were the words of Delfine Persoon directly after her unanimous points reverse to Katie Taylor on Saturday night.
The Belgian took the rematch defeat on the chin and praised the undisputed champion for her performance.
However, having watched the fight back – and potentially having seen that those in Sky Sports had her winning the fight – she has changed her tune.
The Police Officer now believes she was again unfortunate to lose. The two weight world champion now argues a draw would have been acceptable, but revealed she scored the fight 96-94 in her favour after watching it back.
“We shouldn’t have lost. And certainly not without a broken nose,” Persoon told the Belgian press upon returning home.
“We have already heard from several boxing experts that the victory could also be for me.”
“After our analysis, we have doubts. A [draw] was possible, but if we give points ourselves, we end up with 96-94 for us. Although I also know that it is one opinion against another. ”
Persoon believes she could have been better but for the damage done to her nose early in the fight.
The former WBC champ argues a headbutt bust her nose and made life difficult throughout.
“The fact is: if I still have a nose, I could have made it harder. That break was very frustrating, also because the ref came to tell me it came from a punch. But in the lightweights I haven’t seen a woman punch anyone that hard. That was after a headbutt. The ref wanted to cover himself with that, the power against the normal.”
Speaking on the fight Taylor admitted it was tough at times, but was adamant she boxed her way to victory.
“It was always going to be that sort of fight,” Taylor said. “It’s never going to be an easy fight against someone like that, who just comes and comes.
“She was relentless for 10 rounds and it’s hard to keep someone like that at long distance.
“I knew I would have to dig deep and fight.
“The fight went as planned. I thought I boxed a lot smarter this time. I was dragged into a fight at times but, for the most part, I boxed a bit smarter. It was a better performance.
“She put up a fantastic fight. We’ve had two fights, put in 20 gruelling rounds, and it’s great to have that rivalry in women’s boxing.”
Persoon has vowed to fight on and is eyeing up super featherweight options, including a fight with Matchrooms Teri Harper.
“I’m not going to say that I’ll be boxing for three more years, but there is still fire. There is no question of boxing fatigue. In the super lightweights against British Terri Harper, there may still be a chance. The only problem in boxing is that you have to get that chance effectively. ”
