In a rematch of their June 2019 controversial decision at Madison Square Garden in New York, Katie Taylor won another close decision over her Belgian rival Delfine Persoon. The decision was unanimous but the action was very close. Boxrec.com has a fan scoring section that has an average score of 97-94 for Persoon and Eye on the Ring another fan scoring page had the contest results all over the place from Taylor 96-94 to Persoon 97-93. Boxingscene.com had the fight level at 95-95 and Badlefthook.com had it 96-94 for Taylor. I myself had he fight scored 95-95. There seems to be a pretty common consensus That Katie Taylor sealed the fight with the final two rounds. The tenth round was all action as both women dug in and traded in the final minute of the fight not wanting to leave it to chance. I personally rarely if ever score a 10-10 round but that round was about as close at it gets.
Katie Taylor started off the bout real strong with excellent movement and selective counter punching. In the first two rounds Delfine Persoon looked lost in the ring. She was unable to set her feet and her punches were missing by what could be measurements in feet. Persoon had an odd habit of lifting her right foot when throwing the right hand and found herself well out of position to defend herself when Katie struck back to counter. Persoon roared back in the third round but her face began to show the damage. Several clashes of heads marked the early parts of the contest with Persoon boring in and Katie leaning in to meet her. The fourth round was close as well with Persoon pouring it on but Katie scoring with the cleaner flashier work.
Persoon’s aggression began to pay off as Taylor started to slow down in the middle of the fight. I felt Persoon did enough to win four rounds in a row in the middle of the contest to build a strong lead to head into the ninth. Persoon was a punching machine just stepping forward and attacking Taylor’s guard with straight lefts and rights down the middle. Taylor could easily outbox and counter Persoon with the cleaner and crisper punches but appeared to tire as she languished in range and allowed Persoon to take over. Round nine and ten saw Taylor display the grit of a champion as she punched back with Persoon and won the ninth and clipped the tenth to retain her undisputed lightweight championship in my eyes.
The scores were read with two very sensible 96-94 cards from Mark Lyson and Johnathan Latham but there was a horrifically incompetent score from Victor Louhglin of 98-83 for Taylor. What fight was he watching? Persoon was swollen and cut from different parts of her face around the eyes and nose and Taylor had a large swelling growth coming out from her forehead as the two fighters stood for a post fight interview. Taylor was quite humble in victory giving Persoon her due. Persoon who was very upset after the first decision said that Taylor deserved this victory and that she could not hurt Taylor this time. She said she also fought with a possible broken nose for eight rounds. When asked if she would like to try to make it thirty rounds fought together Taylor laughed and joked about needing a break. According to DAZN Katie Taylor vs Jessica McCaskill II could be made between the undisputed lightweight and undisputed welterweight champions of women’s boxing.
| Bout: Women’s 135 lb Undisputed Championship | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Final |
| Katie Taylor 15-0 (6) | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 95 |
| Delfine Persoon 44-2-1 (18) | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 95 |
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