Alycia Baumgardner Retains RING Championship After Delfine Persoon Fight Ends In No-Contest

The queen stayed the queen, even if in anti-climactic fashion.

Alycia Baumgardner and Delfine Persoon were forced to settle for a No-Contest in their RING/undisputed 130-pound championship. A clash of heads left Persoon with a deep cut along her right eyebrow which forced the early ending Friday at Lux Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

The incident in question occurred with roughly 45 seconds to go in round four. Because the fight did not make it to the end of the fourth, it was not declared an official bout.

“Listen, everyone knows I was getting ready to lay it on her,” Baumgardner said of the sudden end. “Just understand, I’m back.”

Signs of a long night ahead came for Belgium’s Persoon, 39, came from the WBC mandatory challenger’s ringwalk.

The former WBC lightweight titleholder sported a massive brace on her right knee, which seemed to limit her mobility. Her normally high octane offense was nowhere to be found, though also attributable to the speed and power of Baumgardner, 30, who was sharp despite a 14-month layoff.

Baumgardner (15-1, 7 knockouts; 1 No-Contest) scored the bout’s lone knockdown late in the first. A left hook trailing a right hand forced Persoon (49-3, 19 KOs; 2 NC) to touch both gloves to the canvas. Referee Laurence Cole correctly ruled her down and issued the mandatory eight count.

Persoon found mild success with her long, straight right hand in the second and third rounds. The moments were infrequent compared to Baumgardner’s success both through her right hands and left hooks.

Time was called past the midway point in round four after both fighters banged heads. Persoon came forward then attempted to pull out just as Baumgardner dipped her head to reset her stance. The sequence caused Persoon to turn away in pain as she pawed at her right eyebrow. Cole issued both fighters to a neutral corner and summoned the ringside physician to examine the wound.

Persoon was visibly upset, even as it was twice explained to her that the fight would end in a No-Contest if the fight were stopped. Such was the ruling, as it was determined that the cut was too severe for Persoon to continue.

The fight extended Baumgardner’s ten-fight unbeaten streak. However, it marked her first fight since July 2018 to not end in a win. That defeat came to Christina Linardatou, a loss she avenged in a ten-round decision last July in Detroit, Michigan.

Controversy followed that championship defense, when it was learned that Baumgardner tested positive for a banned substance. The matter lingered for months due to the inaction of the Michigan Unarmed Combat Commission. Baumgardner was eventually placed on probation in a ruling by the WBC, who mandated Friday’s fight.

Persoon is now unbeaten in her past six starts, though which includes two No-Contests.

The run came after her Aug. 2020 defeat to Katie Taylor in their RING/undisputed lightweight championship rematch in Brentwood, England. Persoon’s longtime WBC lightweight title reign ended in a narrow defeat to Ireland’s Taylor in their June 2019 full unification bout at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

Persoon was the number-one contender with all four major sanctioning bodies and rated No. 1 at 130 by The Ring. However, it was a record purse bid hearing won by Global Combat Collective, who posted $500,000 to secure fight rights. GCC outbid Matchroom Boxing ($281,500), Baumgardner’s promoter of record though their deal ended with Friday’s fight.

Friday marked Baumgardner’s fifth overall defense of at least one title and her third as RING champion. She won the WBC belt in a Nov. 2021 fourth-round knockout of unbeaten titlist Terri Harper. The IBF and WBO belts and RING crown were added in a split decision over Mikaela Mayer, who was undefeated ahead of their Oct. 2022 unification and grudge match in London.

Baumgardner collected the final chip, the WBA strap, in a ten-round win over Elhem Mekhaled last February in New York City. The bout was her first in the U.S. after three straight in the U.K. Friday was her third in a row in the states.

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