Persoon looking to reprove her prowess
Naturally, former lightweight world champion Delfine Persoon (44-2, 18 KO’s) understands that Saturday Augusts 22 could be a redemptive day for her. She, along with a significant segment of the boxing public, believe that she truly defeated undisputed world lightweight champion Katie Taylor (15-0, 6 KO’s) last June 1, 2019.
Regrettably for her, the official judges on hand did not agree. Rather than wallow in self-pity pining about the loss, the Belgian pugilist picked herself up and moved on with her career. In many respects, she was correct to do so. Had things gone according to her initial plans, Taylor was on the books to mix it up with Amanda “The Real Deal” Serrano (38-1-1, 28 KO’s). After that bout crumbled to dust, Persoon was only too happy to step in as Taylor’s next dance partner.
“Yes, this Saturday night it’s my chance to reprove I am a high level female boxer also. And that the first fight there were people who thought Katie won, other people thought I won. It’s on me to prove that I also deserve the titles. I stand there in New York and that, for us, was not the correct decision.”
BRING THE RUCKUS!
There is no doubt that winning and becoming a champion again is of immense importance to the Belgian. However, aside from this, Persoon has assumed the self-assigned mission to demonstrate that there is nothing that the men can do that women cannot!
“I want to show that female boxers can also box like men. Where I live in Belgium there are not a lot of female [boxers] and I always train with men. And if you train always with men, like in sparring with me, they don’t hold in! They spar so I am prepared for hard fights and maybe the way that I box is maybe I always train with men.”
This is an admirable goal to say the least! Given the ferocity of the last dust-up, it’s certainly not out of the question to believe that we could have another slugfest on our hands. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
By: Bakari Simpson
