Saved by an EARLY bell – Persoon dodgy time keeping prevented her KO’ing Taylor

Delfine Persoon [44(18)-2(1)]believes Katie Taylor [15(6)-0] was saved by an EARLY bell when the fought last.

The Belgian has bemoaned her points reverse suffered at the gloves of Taylor in a July 1 2019 massive all the belts clash since the scorecards were read out.

Indeed, she lodged an appeal with the WBC regarding the scoring of the Madison Square Garden hosted clash.

In fairness to the Police Officer there were others who felt she was robbed on the night and some respected names went as far as to say she was unfortunate to suffer defeat.

However, Persoon has found another injustice she feels needs raising as the pair ready themselves for a highly anticipated August 22 rematch.

The 35-year-old, who now holds Olympic ambitions, believes the final round of the fight was cut short by 30 seconds.

An exhausted Taylor was hurt by her work horse opponent in the final stages of the last round, but kept fighting back. Persoon argues if she had another 30 seconds – 30 seconds she believes she should have had – she would have won by stoppage.

“I don’t know if the next fight will be similar, maybe it will be difficult. I hope the best boxer can win because, in the last fight, Katie had a lot of problems in the last round,” Persoon told Sky Sports who will broadcast the Fight Camp hosted rematch.

“Time the last round – it was 30 seconds too short. And 30 seconds in the dark is a long time to survive. In 30 seconds I can finish the fight.”

Persoon still feels she did enough in the 19 minutes 30 seconds she claims she fought to earn a points win. The former WBC champion argues she outworked the Olympic gold medal winner and refutes claims Taylor won the first half of the fight.

“The first fight? We think we won. Look at who worked the most. Look at the last moment of every round. Look at the beginning of the fight – one round for her, one for me, not all of the rounds were hers.

“We have looked at the fight again. For us, she did not do enough,” she continues before suggesting she isn’t bitter.

“It is life. Not everything is always correct – not just in sport, but in life. Not everybody gets chances to work or to study. There are a lot of things in life that are not correct. It’s going to be difficult, I know. But I hope for a correct decision.