14 months ago in New York, Katie Taylor united the lightweight division completely with a controversial majority win over Dolphin Person. Tonight’s rematch in Brentwood, England, was almost a good fight than the first time, but this one went a little clearer to Taylor, who retained the WBC, WBA, IBF, and WBO titles through a unanimous decision of 10- round.
Scores were 96-94, 96-94 and 98-93 for Taylor. Bad Left Hook also had the fight 96-94 for Taylor, who claimed it on our card in the last two rounds.
Person (44-3, 18 KO) was remarkably emotional after her war in 2019, and understandably so, as she felt – and many agreed – that she deserved what a great turnout victory would have been over the Irish star.
This time, however, Taylor (16-0, 6 KO) finished the work more convincingly. Person was really relentless in her attack again, but Taylor was able to avoid more of the riots, land the majority of clean shooters, and take enough of the rounds that there would not be a whole lot of argument this time around.
“I knew it was going to be a tough fight,” Taylor said after the attack. ‘It’s never going to be an easy fight against Dolphin, she’s unbearable. I had to dig deep, but I felt I was boxing better than last time. I held on to my boxing a lot more, even though I was pulled over a few times. ”
Taylor added, ‘You can’t relax there at all against someone like Dolphin. Even though I hit her with clean shots, she will just attack all the time. We put on two fantastic fights, what a great two boxing fights for women. We have certainly done our part to promote the sport. ”
Taylor is of the opinion that she has placed more of this stamp, and can now move forward, as she allowed the reaction to the first decision to overwhelm her over the last year.
“I think it was much more convincing last night, even though it was a tough, rough fight,” she said. “I think I did well and I got a convincing win in the end.”
And Person, for her part, gave Taylor this credit for a clean profit this time.
‘This time I respect the result. For me this time the weight was a bit too much, ”said Persoon, who has always had a bit of light moisture as a lightweight. ‘I did not feel I had the power to hurt her this time. If you do not hurt her, it will be a technical battle, and she’s fine. She runs around and you have to hurt her, otherwise she’s gone. She deserves my respect this time and I have no problem. ”
Person said she plans to move on to junior lightweight.
“In the second round, I think I broke my nose,” Person added. ‘I get that fixed, I think then [130] is more my weight than [135]. ”
Asked if she wanted a third fight with Taylor, it was Taylor who quickly jumped in, quipping, “Give me a break, please! Give me a break!”
