Baumgardner back to defend 130-pound title

Alycia Baumgardner will defend her WBC 130-pound title vs. Delfine Persoon on Sept. 27 in Atlanta, the champion told ESPN.

Detroit’s Baumgardner (15-1, 7 KOs) will be fighting for the first time since last July, when she defeated Christina Linardatou in a rematch to retain her undisputed junior lightweight championship.

Baumgardner’s sample three days before that fight tested positive for a banned substance. After an investigation, the WBC in January found her “not guilty of intentional ingestion or consumption of a banned substance for performance-enhancement purposes.” The Association of Boxing Commissions lifted Baumgardner’s temporary suspension in March, paving the way for her return.

Global Combat Collective won the rights to the mandatory title defense against Persoon with $500,000 in March, a record number for a WBC women’s title fight. Baumgardner’s WBA, WBO and IBF titles won’t be on the line. The fight will be available for free on Brinx.TV and Fubo Sports.

“Delfine, she’s a great sportsman, trailblazer for the sport,” said Baumgardner, 30. “And again, being off a year and coming back to fight and defend my title against an opponent like that is very telling. Just to say that I’m here to accept challenges, there’s no excuses, and that I’ll come out victorious and still have my belts.”

Baumgardner owns a fourth-round TKO victory over Terri Harper and a split decision win over Mikaela Mayer. The pair of victories helped establish her as one of the top-5 women pound for pound.

Persoon (49-3, 19 KOs) is a former champion from Belgium. The 39-year-old last fought in May 2023 with a split decision win over Bo Mi Re Shin in Belgium. Persoon is ESPN’s No. 10 pound-for-pound boxer.

She dropped a majority decision victory to Irish star Katie Taylor in 2019 and a unanimous decision in the rematch two fights later.

Baumgardner, who is promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, said she will be a free agent after this fight. She’s targeting the winner of the Taylor-Amanda Serrano rematch for the undisputed 140-pound championship set for Nov. 15 on the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul undercard.

“I don’t want to take any less of a fight than that one,” Baumgardner said. “Give me Katie, give me Amanda. It just makes sense in terms of where we are at this stage, and I know they seem to be on their way out, but I think we can make an actual boxing fight and not an event on a big stage with either Katie or Amanda. … I can definitely go to 140.”