Boxing: Taylor targets victory in 'legacy-building' rematch v Peerson

Unified world lightweight champion Katie Taylor has dubbed Saturday's re-match against Belgium's Delfine Persoon as "legacy-building" in her quest to be known as the pound-for-pound champion of women's boxing. Persoon provided Taylor with the toughest challenge of her great career last June in New York's Madison Square Garden, with the Irishwoman unifying the division by winning a tight contest via a majority decision, leading by just two points on two of the cards and drawing the third. Many observers had the all-action Belgian down as the winner and Persoon admitted in a media conference on Thursday that she didn't expect the undefeated Taylor to agree to this re-match which she considers a "big risk" for the WBA, WBO, IBF and WBC belt-holder. Persoon, who has a day job as a police inspector, struggled to come to terms with defeat, storming out of the ring in tears but after going on to outpoint Nigeria's Helen Joseph in November, the 35-year-old decided to follow her dream of representing Belgium at Tokyo 2020. Her attempt to qualify for the now-delayed Olympic Games failed when she lost her first qualifying fight against Greek Nikoleta Pita in March before the coronavirus outbreak meant the European qualifying tournament in London had to be abandoned. After the event Persoon became seriously ill with pneumonia. She tested negative for Covid-19. 34-year-old Taylor had better luck against another Greek fighter, winning the WBO super-lightweight title against Christina Linardatou in November, which she needed to relinquish in order to retain her WBO belt for Saturday's highly-anticipated lightweight clash in the garden of Matchroom Boxing's HQ in Essex, England. Taylor has an unblemished record of 15 wins with 6 knockouts. Persoon has 44 wins - 18 by way of knockout - and two losses.