With a worldwide audience, live from New York City’s Madison Square Garden, women’s lightweight champions Katie Taylor and Delfine Persoon engaged in a “Fight of the Year” candidate for ten sizzling rounds to unify all four major world titles. Bray, Ireland’s Taylor, 134.5 lbs., looked to use her footwork and land combinations, but Persoon, of Roeselare, West Vlaanderen, Belgium, was relentless, applying pressure throughout. It was a slugfest from the opening bell. By the midway point, Taylor managed to create some distance and was doing well landing clean shots while evading returning fire. Persoon’s left eye was beginning to swell shut, but the Belgian’s will could not be deterred and she never stopped attacking. Persoon banked the eighth with Taylor more stationary by this point and round nine consisted of nonstop exchanges. Taylor appeared fatigued in the final frame and Persoon took advantage, landing heavy shots to hurt her adversary. Following 10 rounds of explosive action, Taylor was awarded a very close and controversial majority decision on scorecards of 95-95, and 96-94 twice. The loss snapped a 34-fight winning streak for Persoon, whose only other loss came in 2010. Now 43-2 (18 KOs), Persoon had held the WBC title for five years, making nine defenses. Women’s boxing now has three undisputed champions between Taylor, now 14-0 (6 KOs), at lightweight, Cecilia Braekhus at welterweight and Claressa Shields at middleweight. A rematch against Persoon is a must, but a mega-fight looms for Taylor against seven-division world champion Amanda Serrano.
Liverpool, England’s Callum Smith, 167.5 lbs., easily defended the WBA super middleweight title [actually the WBA super championship], demolishing French Cameroonian Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, 166lbs., inside three frames. In the opening round, Smith felled N’Dam twice, first with a left hook upstairs then with a barrage to the body. In the second, another left hook deposited N’Dam on the canvas again. Smith ended the contest the following round with a straight right flooring N’Dam a fourth and final time. The stoppage came at the 2:56 mark. Now 26-0 (19 KOs), Smith figures to be a very attractive opponent for world middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, if/when he ventures back up to 168 pounds. N’Dam left the ring with a 37-4 (21 KOs) record.
The 2016 Olympian Josh Kelly, 146.6 lbs., of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, battled Philadelphia, PA’s Ray Robinson, 146 lbs., his first southpaw opponent as a pro, for 10 competitive rounds. Kelly had his best moments circling Robinson and finding openings for his jab-straight right combination. Robinson focused on cutting off the ring and closing the gap to unload flurries of punches. Kelly proved to be an elusive target in the first few rounds. However, neither fighter wanted to give ground in the fifth frame and found themselves shoulder-to-shoulder trading leather. In the seventh, Robinson was able to back Kelly into the blue corner and open a cut above his left eye. Robinson continued to press forward during the closing rounds, but Kelly countered him well. A cut above Kelly’s right eye opened in the 10th and final round. The judges tallied 96-95 for Kelly, and 95-95 twice, resulting in a majority draw verdict. Kelly returns home with a 9-0-1 (6 KOs) record, while Robinson, earning his second straight draw, moved to 24-3-2 (12 KOs).
Needing less than a round to defeat Quadeer Jenkins, of Trenton, NJ, touted amateur and #1 ranked 165-pounder Austin Williams scored his second straight knockout in as many fights since turning pro in April. Trained by Bobby Benton in Houston, TX, the southpaw Williams hurt Jenkins with an overhand left then put him down with a combination. Jenkins arose, but was met with another barrage of shots that decked him a second and final time, ending the contest at the 2:14 mark. Jenkins remains winless at 0-2.
Joshua Buatsi, a Ghanaian 2016 Olympic bronze medalist now living in London, England, scored a fourth-round stoppage of Mexico City’s Marco Antonio Periban. Buatsi began the bout targeting the body and throwing combinations whenever he had Periban against the ropes. In round four, Periban was decked by an overhand right then Buatsi unloaded a salvo of punches until the referee intervened to finish him off at the 1:39 mark. In his US debut, Buatsi, ranked #5 by the WBA, improved to 11-0 (9 KOs), while Periban’s record dipped to 25-5-1 (16 KOs).
Former WBO junior welterweigh champion Chris Algieri, 139 lbs., of Greenlawn, Long Island, NY, defeated Tommy Coyle, 139.5 lbs., of Hull, Yorkshire, England, in a very entertaining contest. Coyle was able to counter Algieri’s jab early on, landing his overhand right. In round two, the Englishman hurt Algieri with a right hand then pinned him against the ropes as he dished out a sustained attack. However, Algieri landed his own powerful straight right in the third then had Coyle on the canvas via a left hook to the body in round four. Coyle surged back with hard shots and the sixth stanza featured heated exchanges. The Long Islander regained control when he returned his focus to the midsection, though one shot strayed below the beltline in the seventh. Following the eighth, Coyle’s corner advised the referee that their charge could no longer continue and the contest was waved off. With the TKO victory, Algieri improved to 24-3 (9 KOs) and hopes to enter the title picture to regain the WBO junior welterweight belt currently held by Maurice Hooker. Suffering his third loss by knockout, Coyle is now 25-5 (12 KOs).
In his US debut, 2016 Olympic bronze medalist and junior middleweight prospect Souleymane Cissokho, born in Senegal and based in Bagnolet, Seine-Saint-Denis, France, improved to 9-0 (6 KOs) with an eight-round unanimous decision win against Mexican Vladimir Hernandez, of Denver, CO, now 10-4 (6 KOs). Scorecards read 80-72 and 79-73 twice. Cissokho captured the French super welterweight title in his last fight in February.
Eighteen-year-old middleweight Diego Pacheco, of Los Angeles, CA, improved to 4-0 (3 KOs) with a first-round stoppage of Macomb, Michigan’s Jared Chauvin, now 1-3, in the walkout bout of the event.
