Delfine Persoon, left, and Katie Taylor during their Madison Square Garden, New York City, on June 1, 2019. INPHO/TOM HOGAN
It’s on!
Katie Taylor will defend her undisputed world lightweight titles against Delfine Persoon in an Aug. 22 rematch.
The bout will be on the Dillian Whyte-Alexander Povetkin bill, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
The 2012 Olympics champion boxer from Bray, Co. Wicklow, 34, unified the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO titles with a controversial majority decision win over Persoon at Madison Square Garden on June, 2019.
The decision was “greeted with dismay by Persoon, and their burning rivalry is renewed at Matchroom's Fight Camp,” on Aug. 22, in the words of Sky Sports Box Office.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said the fighters will face-off in the back yard of Matchroom's office headquarters in Brentwood, England.
"I can't quite believe this fight has been made," Hearn said. "I can't give enough credit to Katie and Delfine for agreeing to do it again."
The 35-year-old Persoon, a native of West Flanders, Belgium, turned professional in 2009 and has also worked as a railway police officer.
The is little love lost between the two camps; in the run-up to the 2019 fight, Persoon’s management team called Taylor’s team “totally disrespectful” and accusing it of “psychological warfare.”
But Hearn claimed later Thursday the pair will meet in a rematch next month in the back garden of Matchroom's office headquarters in Brentwood, England.
"I can't quite believe this fight has been made," Hearn said. "I can't give enough credit to Katie and Delfine for agreeing to do it again.”
