Delfine Persoon

Well, yeah, but you watch them for a specific reason. :hey

They are hot babes...that happen to box.

Persoon, don't even watch in terms of her being a female boxer - watch in terms of her being a boxer. (a person, even )

She is among the few good enough to do that.

 

Ohhhhh! See, I thought...man, you don't even wanna know what I thought. Laawdy lawdy no.

 

Yeah...growing up for some reason I always thought Belgium was culturally sort of a 50-50 mash-up of German and French, since geographically it was always the middle of tug-of-war between them. Like everybody spoke both (either German as first language and French as second in the northeast, or the other way around in the southwest) and their food and dress and rituals and everything were sort of a hodgepodge of French and German.

I've since come to realize, with surprise, that Dutch influence actually dwarfs both of them - and not just linguistically but pervasive through all their culture. Like, in Belgium they celebrate the whole "Sinterklaas" tradition with Black Pete and everything, right?

 

And yes, Lucia was a looker.

As with Laila Ali, she was smart to retire at the peak of popularity and with her cherry intact - but in both cases you have to wonder if they would have stood up to more rigorous examination in the ring had they faced stiffer competition...which indeed was available. (famously, Anne Wolfe for Ali...and pretty much every actual belt holder at 140lbs including Sumya Anani for Rijker)

I'm not calling either of them frauds, mind you - both were very gifted and skilled ...they just never really stepped up much to prove what they could do and challenge themselves, when plenty of challenges were not only presently available but desperately calling them out hoping for a payday, and the bragging rights of being the ones to deflower them.

The best conquests for Rijker, aside from her one credible victory over Jane Couch (a year after she was knocked out by Anani) were a green 0-1 Acuña and green 1-0 Chevelle Hallback - long before either of them became anything.

Very similarly, Ali has the one mantlepiece knockout of 35 year old Christy Martin - and then a secondary line of less than exceptional results that don't match how much hype and press she received for who she was. (much like Rijker did for being a cutie who at least seemed like she could actually box well)




I think h2h in a match-up between Persoon vs. Rijker, the Dutchwoman in spite of having more athletic talent might get found out, especially in the deep waters in which she never swum (Rijker went ten just once, in her very final bout)

 

Spreading the word!!!!

That is too bad. The unfortunate reality is that if she were younger and prettier she probably would. That is the only time anyone pays attention... in fact, attractive boxers with terrible records and low skill become far more well known than top pound for pound talents who don't appeal to male fans' shallower instincts. Shame, because a hardcore boxing fan ought to enjoy watching someone like Persoon, who actually brings a high skill level and some legitimacy to her contests (especially when in with a fellow respectable champion like Prazak).

It speaks volumes that such an important meeting between the WBC 130lb and 135lb champions the other day received no live TV coverage, although we do at least have the video provided by Focus&WTV.

Right, it seems like there are many "very good' but never any "great" - they all just reach that European title plateau and can't break through any higher, going back a whole century. Odd, you would think by law of averages there would have been at least one by now. Belgium is a relatively smaller nation but there is obviously sustained interest, at least in the Flemish region - in boxing.

I remember Bonsu! Yeah, he was decent. He actually defeated Baldomir, his career best W. Funny how it works out - boxing really is about timing. Just think, if he were to have caught Baldomir exactly two years earlier Bonsu could have become the lineal welterweight champion of the world!

That is sad to hear about his condition. Is he badly impaired other than not being able to get a license?

I saw him beat Mizsei Jr. and was impressed...and the Spaniard he lost to, by close MD, is actually pretty solid...but yeah, he will probably top out in the Euro title mix like most of the other male Belgians seem to and never get world ranked.

Do you consider them your country's greatest?

Boxrec.com actually has Jean Sneyers at #1 all-time, with twice as many 'career points' as Gustave Roth. That is crazy to me. Roth should be ahead, surely, don't you think? Both are three-division European champions but Roth beat a much higher caliber, more consistently. Sneyers has the Famechon rivalry (going 1-2-1) and the robbery decision over former world flyweight champ Terry Allen. Roth seems to have a lot more quality and longevity, participating in twice as many bouts as Sneyers, many of them for titles, and he dominated his rivalry with Karel Sys, rated on Boxrec as the #3 all-time Belgian, going 3-1-1 against him.

Do you put Coopman and De Kerpel ahead of those guys? Are they all remembered very much by mainstream Belgians as great sportsmen, or are they pretty obscure?

Also - I was glancing at their records and saw that Coopman and De Kerpel actually fought each other, in 1999, both in their fifties?!? WTF is that about? Why did they do that? Charity?

I hope she does get some paydays, as she is clearly very hardworking to have refined her craft that well all while still grinding away in the workforce.

Very interesting. There really are no challenges left for her at lightweight. The closest is Serrano - and that would both give her a chance to unify and raise her profile a tiny bit in the USA (not that it would be televised here or anything) - but even that is a mismatch. If she goes up to 140lbs there are two golden opportunities for her: a rematch with Farias if the Argentine claims the WBC title from Oliveras this Saturday, or she could go after Kulakova. That would be huge, and make for an interesting contrast in styles.

Ah, you really ought to! You are Belgian, show a little support for your world champion!

Besides, she is an exception. Women's boxing is generally ugly, yes, but her style isn't (regardless of what you think of her appearance :!. She has everything there is to like about, say, Antonio Margarito, plus more actual skill.

The whole reason I made this very thread was to, yes, illuminate Persoon individually, but also to get people to watch her fight with Prazak the other day, because it really was good and I regret it not being aired live so I could've done a RBR on it. (which of course would have drawn more attention, especially if there were a legal stream link included for other boxing junkies needing a fix to watch along with me)

I know in my OP it was a big wall of text and many probably just said "tl;dr" and didn't even notice the link to watch the replay of the fight, but getting people to watch it was kind of the whole point here.

So here you go. :bbb

Delfine Persoon vs. Diana Prazak
http://www.focus-wtv.be/sport/exclusief-bekijk-de-volledige-kamp-van-delfine-persoon

 

I already sort of answered this, but yes - Braekhus is the even clearer and more obvious p4p #1 than her counterpart in Mayweather. She has more distance separating her from the rest of the pack than Mayweather does.

(note: she isn't better than Mayweather, I'm just saying the gulf between her and the rest of the women's talent is wider than between Mayweather and the rest of the blokes)

Four. She's on a pretty great streak of four, now.

1. Morelli II (unified three belts, two held by Morelli, dominant victory)
2. Farias (claimed the most important belt, the green one, handed Farias her first ever defeat, stood up to some nasty body shots and spirited rallies and toughed it out in the front-line trenches until the end)
3. Waguthii (Judy's record is another of those deceptive ones you see in women's boxing or in MMA for either gender, where a bunch of losses don't quite tell you the whole story. Waguthii had just challenged Svetlana Kulakova the previous year for the WBA 140lbs world title and while she did get shut out, Waguthii was game and made Kulakova work every second, applying pressure and landing the harder shots while Kulakova was much busier and the better mover...and in the final minutes Waguthii actually caught her with a big shot, hurting and cutting the Russian. Had that happened earlier she would've stopped Kulakova, no doubt... Anyway, Persoon also shut her out and unlike Kulakova was never in trouble...)
4. Prazak (like I said, champ in the division below, solid, tough, heavy-handed girl...just watch it: http://www.focus-wtv.be/sport/exclusief-bekijk-de-volledige-kamp-van-delfine-persoon Somebody. Please :yep)

Also worth noting is that she has 'defeated everyone she ever stepped in the ring', which is something people do sometimes put stock in - like with Lennox, for instance. Her only defeat was by TKO in a rematch with Zelda Tekin just a year into her career, only three weeks after Tekin was disqualified against her. Unfortunately for Persoon, it seems Tekin has been retired for a while or else she could've buried that blemish even further by winning a trilogy with a rubber match as she continued to improve.

Yeah, they run her the closest, I think.

Bopp losing to Chavez sort of muddied the picture a little. Without that happening Bopp is probably just behind Braekhus.

Acuña emerging from retirement confused things even further. Just based on longevity and overall resume, yes, she is up there. In her comeback, however, she is 7-1-1- and her best wins are Melissa Hernandez, the rematch with Villalobos whom she already beat two years earlier, and the pair over Lucas Matthysse's sister, who is only so-so. Don't get me wrong, those are great wins to be notching in one's late thirties, and that should factor into her rankings as well - but I just don't know if that recent body of work puts her up with a Persoon, Bopp, or Chavez. Her victory over Nava is awesome, trumping anything they have - but that was back in 2009.

Yep. Back end of 10, all of 'em.

Quite a pair, indeed. :yep :hooters

Do check out Persoon vs. Prazak, though. The man in you won't be turned on - but the boxing fan in you will be stimulated.

 

The more I think of it, the randier I'm getting for Persoon vs. Kulakova, actually. :think

Does anybody know Persoon's height? Prazak is listed 5'5" and was obviously a few inches shorter. Would the Russian at 5'8" be taller or would she be without her usual advantage? If she failed to keep Persoon at bay with her rangy jab and footwork I'd be very curious to see how Kulakova responds once things heat up on the inside.