Holly Holm didn\u2019t return to boxing just to make a paycheck, but rather to chase gold in hopes of becoming a four-division champion.<\/p>\n
Already a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Holm seeks to add a new title to her r\u00e9sum\u00e9 when she faces WBA lightweight champion Stephanie Han in the co-main event of a Most Valuable Promotions card in Puerto Rico this Saturday. While Holm admittedly didn\u2019t know if she\u2019d ever go back to boxing after making a successful transition into mixed martial arts, the 44-year-old veteran absolutely believed she could make waves in the sport again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love women\u2019s boxing because I always will respect it, always will be thankful for it and my whole journey with it,\u201d Holm told MMA Fighting. \u201cBut when Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano fought at [Madison Square Garden] and sold it out, it\u2019s like that\u2019s the weight class I never really got to fight in when I was in boxing before. That would be cool if I\u2019d be able to go back and fight one of these girls. Didn\u2019t know if I\u2019d ever actually make it back to boxing but here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
She scored a unanimous decision win this past June in her first fight back in boxing and now Holm attempts to capture a title in her second comeback appearance.<\/p>\n
While she could have easily traveled down the influencer boxing path, chasing bigger paydays with far less risk, Holm says she\u2019s never been built that way when it comes to her fighting career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to come back just for like \u2018oh it kind of sounds fun\u2019 or maybe this fight,\u201d Holm explained. \u201cIt\u2019s like let\u2019s get ranked and fight for a title and try to fight one of the biggest names out there. It\u2019s not that I\u2019m new to boxing but it\u2019s just been a while since I\u2019ve been boxing. So to come back we wanted to be able to jump in it and just go all out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think, I know \u2014 one of the main things I wanted to do in my career is fight the best and currently. I wanted to fight them while they\u2019re currently ranked, not later. Not after. I wanted to take on the best when they are the best. For the majority, 90 percent of my career has been like that. As soon as I got a belt in boxing, all of them were belts, all of them were highly ranked currently when I fought them.\u201d<\/p>\n
A win on Saturday could put Holm in an even better position to land one of the biggest fights in the sport.<\/p>\n
Irish superstar Katie Taylor is likely nearing the end of her career, but her promoter Eddie Hearn has mentioned interest in potentially lining up a fight against Holm in Ireland that could go down as one of the biggest women\u2019s boxing matches of all time.<\/p>\n
Taylor, 39, was an undisputed lightweight champion for five years and then went onto claim the light welterweight title \u2014 including belts that Holm held during her boxing career as well.<\/p>\n
While her only focus remains on beating Han on Saturday, Holm is enticed by the potential reward of winning and then getting a showdown against Taylor in Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would love that,\u201d Holm said about fighting Taylor. \u201cIt would be amazing. The thing I\u2019ve been saying through this camp now is I\u2019ve got goals and dreams and my goal is to win this fight. This is the only thing I\u2019m promised. This is the only opportunity I\u2019m promised because that\u2019s next fight in front of me. I need to win this in order to have the next door open. But I would love to have this fight, my goal is win this fight and my dream is to have a big fight like that over in Ireland. I have Irish heritage of my own and to be able to go over there, fight the biggest name.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was kind of talk but not really when she was first leaving the Olympics and maybe going to turn pro but she stayed longer to go back to the Olympics and I was boxing at the time. There was actually talk back then, it was probably never going to happen. Maybe that\u2019s the fight that\u2019s always meant to happen but better to happen now than before on such a bigger stage and more eyes watching. She\u2019s made a name for herself and all of her accolades and what she\u2019s done with her career as well as mine, to be able to meet now would be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holm has nothing but praise for Taylor as a fighter, not to mention her superstar status as the face of women\u2019s boxing in Ireland and also one of the biggest names around the globe.<\/p>\n
The chance to face somebody like Taylor would add another accolade to Holm\u2019s growing list of accomplishments. That kind of fight is exactly why Holm was so excited to return to boxing.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s been able to do a lot in her career,\u201d Holm said about Taylor. \u201cGoing to the Olympics and then having such a career that she\u2019s had in professional boxing. Headlining Madison Square Garden, things that women have never been able to do before, she\u2019s done a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have done a lot in my career and made a name for myself. We\u2019ve both been grinding and making a name for ourselves. To be able to meet and go head to head would be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Holly Holm didn\u2019t return to boxing just to make a paycheck, but rather to chase gold in hopes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,1920,1347,85],"class_list":["post-389432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-latest-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}