Taylor retains against Persoon

The highly anticipated rematch between Undisputed Lightweight champion Katie Taylor and Delfine Persoon went down  Saturday night at “Hearn Square Garden” in the co-main event of the FIght Camp 4 with Taylor retaining by unanimous decision.

The judge’s scorecards were 98-93 and 96-94 by the other two all in Taylor.

The ten-round contest that aired on pay-per-view in the UK on Sky Sports and live in the United States on DAZN was a rematch of the bout from last June, which saw Taylor, now 16-0, 6 KOs, win by a very close and debatable majority decision.

Count ‘em! #AndStill@KatieTaylor retains the gold 98-93, 96-94, 96-94…

? WBC
? WBA
? WBO
? IBF
? Ring Magazine

Undisputed Lightweight Champion ?#FightCamp #TaylorPersoon2 #FightCamp4 pic.twitter.com/Venx6At8ZC

— Matchroom: Fight Camp Tonight! (@MatchroomBoxing) August 22, 2020

Early on, the contest looked similar to the first one, both in style and approach. Persoon started the match swarming and being the aggressor while Taylor, the former Olympic Gold Medalist from Ireland, using her movement to jab and move.

It was apparent early on that Taylor was able to time Persoon early and often.  Referee John Lewis claimed it was a punch that landed on Persoon that caused a very nasty gash that was worked on extensively at the end of the second round.

In the third round, Persoon was able to land solid shots and get inside, which was what kept her in the first fight as well. The countering that Taylor did in that, and this one was land shots to the body to keep Persoon off her. The styles clash for both made for a fun fight, but it was clear that the first half of the battle was in favor of Taylor.

The best round of the fight for Persoon was the sixth by far, where she was able to close the distance and throwing solid combinations. By the start of the eighth round, a knot was visibly showing on Taylor from all of this. The only quasi-knockdowns that happened where in this fight whee both correctly ruled slips from Taylor. In the end, it was Taylor landing the cleaner shots in the contest.

Wasn’t a clear victory that Taylor mentioned (that 98-93 card is bullocks) but Taylor won a hard-fought battle.