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‘Show me six rounds where Persoon won clearly’ – Lee hits out at scoring ‘controversy’

Andy Lee is adamant there should be no controversy surrounding Katie Taylor’s historic win in New York on Saturday.

The Bray native outpointed former WBC world lightweight champion Delfine Persoon to unify the division and become Ireland’s first undisputed world champion since the four belt era began.

Although Taylor is adamant it hasn’t detracted from her sense of achievement there have been some debate with regard to the scoring.

Most agree Persoon gave the 32 year old a tougher test than originally expected at Madison Square Garden with some leaning toward Taylor winning a close fight and others claiming they felt the Belgian should have got the nod.

There were also some pundits and past fighters who went as far as to claim ‘robbery’.

Speaking on Off the Ball former middleweight world champion and now respected pundit, Lee was left shocked by such claims.

The Limerick man, who may go into coaching with Paddy Donovan, scored the fight in favour in the Olympic gold medal winners favour and can’t see how anyone could lean the other way.

“Show me six rounds where Delfine Persoon won clearly on clear, effective punching,” he said.

“She didn’t. Some of the rounds are toss-ups. The first round could have been a draw and the second round you could’ve given to Persoon. Maybe the ninth round is a toss-up as well.

“So there are three rounds there that are questionable and can go either way. But other than that, Katie wins. Katie was winning all the rounds and those other rounds were a toss-up and Katie was landing the cleaner punches.”

“To me it’s a justified victory. She hasn’t been given it. It’s a close fight but she’s won in my eyes.”

Lee also argued the fact Persoon was able to ask Taylor the kind of questions she has yet to be asked as a pro may have distorted peoples view of the fight and re raised the ‘rival’ point some have been celebrating in recent days.

Watch Lee’s interview on Off the Ball below:

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Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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