Delfine Persoon (; born 14 January 1985) is a Belgian

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. She held the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

female

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

title in 2012 and the WBC female lightweight title from 2014 to June 2019, losing the title in a unification fight against

Katie Taylor Katie Taylor (born 2 July 1986) is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. She is a two-weight world champion and the current undisputed lightweight champion, having held the WBA title since 2017; the IBF title since 2018; and the ...

for the

undisputed Undisputed may refer to: Film * ''Undisputed'' (film), a 2002 action-thriller-drama film ** ''Undisputed'' (soundtrack), the soundtrack to the film * Undisputed II: Last Man Standing, a 2006 American martial arts film * Undisputed III: Redempt ...

lightweight championship. As of September 2020, she is ranked as the world's best active female super-featherweight by

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

, the second best active female lightweight by ''The Ring'', and the second best active female,

pound for pound Pound for pound is a ranking used in combat sports, such as boxing, wrestling, or mixed martial arts, of who the better fighters are irrespective of their weight, i.e. adjusted to compensate for weight class. As these fighters do not compete direc ...

, by BoxRec, fifth by ''The Ring'' and seventh by

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Professional boxing career

Persoon, who works as a railway policewoman, started professional boxing in 2009 - switching to boxing after a career in competitive

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

. In March 2011 she became

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

European Champion against Nicole Boss. She successfully defended her title in November 2011 against Myriam Dellal. In February 2012 Persoon won the

WIBF The Women's International Boxing Federation (WIBF) is one of the more recognized world championship fight sanctioning organizations in women's boxing. Founded in March 1989, it is based in Miami, Florida, and presided over by Barbara Buttrick. The ...

world title with a

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

(TKO) against Lucia Morelli. In September 2012 she added the

world title with a TKO against

Erin McGowan Erin McGowan (born 9 February 1981) is an Australian lightweight world champion boxer and model. Championships and awards Boxing *World Boxing Organization World lightweight title *Women's International Boxing Association The Women's Interna ...

. In January 2013 she successfully defended her WIBF title against Anita Torti. In December 2013 she also gained the WIBA world title.Persoon's boxing profile
/ref> In March 2013 Persoon won a WBC final eliminator against Kremena Petkova, gaining her the right to challenge Erica Farias for the WBC title. In September 2013 she was stripped of the IBF title for inactivity, having failed to defend it in the intervening year. The vacant title was claimed by Victoria Bustos on 21 September. In December 2013 she won a unification fight with Lucia Morelli for the WIBF & WBF titles. This victory made her the number 1 lightweight in the world according to

. On 20 April 2014 Persoon won the WBC title on points from Farias.

Persoon vs. Taylor

In December 2018 it was revealed that Persoon offered $100,000 to IBF and WBA champion

for a fight. Taylor's manager however stated that Taylor would not even get out of bed for this sum. Eventually, a lightweight unification fight between Persoon and Taylor was set for 1 June 2019, at the

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

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, on the undercard for the

Anthony Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz Jr. Anthony Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz Jr. was a heavyweight professional boxing match contested between undefeated and unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO champion Anthony Joshua, and former world title challenger Andy Ruiz Jr. The bout took place ...

heavyweight title fight. In addition to all four sanctioning body's titles being on the line, '' The Ring'' magazine belt was also at stake. Persoon's management labelled Taylor's team "totally disrespectful" and claimed "psychological warfare" after a series of late fight week demands. This included forcing Persoon to switch hotel as Taylor was staying in the same hotel, demanding that she take an additional blood test and prove Persoon has exercise asthma. Taylor won a controversial majority decision to become the

lightweight champion.

Super-featherweight

On 11 November 2019 Persoon won the WBA

interim An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities. Interim may also refer to: Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept) *Provis ...

super-featherweight Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a weight division in professional boxing, contested between and . The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although first founded by the New Yo ...

title.Persoon wins WBA interim junior lightweight title
11 November 2019

Persoon vs. Taylor II

A rematch with Taylor took place on 22 August 2020 at the

Matchroom Sport Matchroom Sport is a sporting event promotions company founded by English entrepreneur Barry Hearn and run by Hearn and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool (cue sports), ...

headquarters in

Brentwood, Essex Brentwood is a town in the Borough of Brentwood, in the county of Essex in the East of England. It is in the London commuter belt, situated 20 miles (30 km) east-north-east of Charing Cross and close by the M25 motorway. In 2017, the popula ...

, for the undisputed female lightweight title. Taylor won the rematch.

Professional boxing record

Awards

* Vlaamse Reus in 2014. *

Belgian Sportsman of the year The Belgian Sportsman of the Year is elected at the end of each year by professional sportjournalists and former winners, annually since 1967. A Belgian Sportswoman of the Year title has been given out since 1975. Top winners include Ingrid Berghman ...

in 2015.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Persoon, Delfine 1985 births Living people People from Hooglede Sportspeople from West Flanders Belgian female judoka Belgian women boxers Lightweight boxers World lightweight boxing champions International Boxing Federation champions World Boxing Council champions