FORMER WBC WORLD lightweight champion Delfine Persoon kept alive plans for an eagerly anticipated rematch with Katie Taylor as she dropped down in weight and won a war with Helen Joseph over 10 rounds on Monday evening in West Flanders, Belgium.
Persoon was deservedly awarded the contest on scores of 97-93 x2 and 98-92, emerging from an enthralling battle with her hand raised five months on from her contentious undisputed world-title defeat to Taylor at Madison Square Garden.
Persoon was introduced to her home crowd as the undisputed lightweight champion — an on-the-nose jab at her Irish rival — and generally outfought the Nigerian-born Connecticut resident Joseph as she temporarily stepped down to super-feather.
Persoon weighed just under 128 pounds for Monday’s encounter — more than seven pounds under the lightweight limit — albeit she came in at just 130.6 for her 135-pound all-the-marbles encounter with Taylor in the summer. Joseph was moving up in weight having operated between 113.5 and 123.75 pounds over the course of her last six unbeaten fights.
Persoon moves to 44-2(18KOs) with her comeback victory while Joseph, who had her moments during a pulsating encounter, drops to 17-4-2(10KOs).
Former WBC lightweight queen Persoon, who turns 35 in January, has been vocal in her pursuit of a rematch with Taylor, 33, who she deemed to have beaten her unfairly in the Big Apple five months ago.
As previously reported by The42, the prospective sequel is being considered by both Eddie Hearn and Sky Sports as a Box Office (pay-per-view) headliner in the UK next summer.
Taylor will first pursue a fight with another female boxing standout in Amanda Serrano, although the Puerto Rican seven-time world champion is proving difficult to lure into the ring as she and her camp hold out for the biggest purse possible for what would likely be a headline fight at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in the spring.
