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Belgian star Delfine Persoon put
on a convincing performance to
dethrone Germany-based Italian
Lucia Morelli of the World
Boxing Federation (WBF) Womens
World Lightweight title on
Friday night, December 13, at
the Zaal Forum in Aalst,
Belgium.
This was a rematch of their 2012
shootout which Persoon won by
fifth round TKO after a
memorable back-and-forth brawl
that some felt was stopped
prematurely, but this time there
was no controversy as Persoon
dominated Morelli from the
start.
Despite Persoon being in control
most of the way, it was again an
exciting fight where Morelli had
her moments, especially with her
hooks to body and head, but
Persoon was the busier boxer and
her combinations seemed harder
and were certainly more
frequent.
The now former champion was
knocked down in round six and
nine, and Persoon had a point
deducted in the ninth when she
hit Morelli while she was on the
floor. Referee Daniel Van de
Wiele stopped the bout at 1:19
of the tenth and final round,
saving Morelli from further
punishment.
At the time of the stoppage,
judges Jean-Marcel Nartz, Olena
Pobyvailo and Christophe Hembert
all had Persoon (28) in front by
89-79.
The new WBF World Champion
capped off an impressive 2013
with her seventh victory of the
year and improved her
professional record to 28-1
(13). 34-year-old Morelli,
fighting for the first time
since winning the title against
Rola El Halabi this past
January, falls to 18-4 (8).
The fight was promoted by
Patrick van de Meerssche.
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