Macklin: "Persoon feels very hard done by. Her camp should be banging that drum and demanding a rematch, she deserves it"
Monday 3 June 2019 22:42, UK
Delfine Persoon should get the chance to fight Katie Taylor again following her contentious loss at Madison Square Garden, says Matthew Macklin.
The pair put it all on the line through 10 rounds of relentless action in New York on Saturday night before Taylor prevailed via a majority decision to become the undisputed lightweight world champion, two judges scoring it 96-94 in the Irish star's favour.
Macklin feels Belgian former WBC titleholder Persoon can rightfully feel hard done by and should now do her all to set up a return fight.
"I actually had Persoon winning the fight by two rounds," Macklin told Sky Sports.
"On my card, I had two 10-10 rounds where I couldn't separate them so if you went one way or the other for those, Persoon would have won by four or it would have been a draw.
"Persoon rightfully feels very hard done by. If you're her camp, you'll be banging that drum very loudly, demanding a rematch, I think she deserves it.
"If I'm Katie Taylor's manager, then I don't know if you want to go back in there, sometimes you get the rub of the green."
Unbeaten Bray favourite Taylor, now 14-0, believes she performed well enough to justify the final verdict.
"It was a very, very close fight," the new four-belt world champion said following victory. "I racked up some nice rounds early on, I knew she would come on strong.
"I definitely felt that I had done enough to win the fight.
"That's my nature to stand there and fight a bit too much, more than I should. I still dug deep and showed heart in there. I knew it was going to be that sort of fight, Persoon is a great champion."
