FORMER WBC WORLD lightweight champion Delfine Persoon will park her pursuit of an eagerly anticipated rematch with Katie Taylor and attempt to qualify for the Olympics next summer.
The Belgian, who has amassed a record of 44-2(18KOs) in the professional ranks, will revert to amateur status from 1 January and begin her bid to represent her country in Tokyo.
Persoon lamented her own lack of an amateur career during the build-up to her undisputed title fight with Taylor last June, but came close to toppling the 2012 Olympic champion in what transpired to be one of the greatest professional female fights of all time.
Eddie Hearn had previously told The42 that he and Sky Sports were eyeing a Taylor-Persoon sequel as a groundbreaking pay-per-view bill-topper next year, but it’s now more likely that Persoon will wind up first facing another Irish boxing great, and Taylor’s successor in the unpaid ranks, Kellie Harrington, over the course of the next eight months.
Harrington, the 2018 amateur world champion at 60kg who was unable to defend her crown this year due to injury, will likely join Persoon in the European qualifying event in London next March. Should either fail to qualify in London, there will also be a world qualifier in Paris in May.
Persoon, 34, has fought once since losing a controversial majority decision to Taylor in June, besting the significantly smaller Helen Joseph on a unanimous decision last month.
