\u00a0MVPW-03: Han retains world title with majority decision\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\nHan started strong in front of a sold-out hometown crowd, landing clean shots early in the fight. However, late in the second round, Han and Holm accidentally clashed heads, opening a cut above Han\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n
Unlike the first fight, the bout continued and Han was forced to fight through the injury for the remaining rounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that it was on the side. I knew it was not big, but obviously it does obstruct your vision. The blood was coming to the eye, and then when I would go back to the ring during the breaks, I would see the Vaseline. So I was like, \u2018Oh, like, clean it out.\u2019 But you just had to fight through these obstacles,\u201d Han said.<\/p>\n
While Han had success throughout the fight, Holm applied consistent pressure and found her target throughout the night.<\/p>\n
According to CompuBox statistics, Holm outlanded Han 107-70 in total punches.<\/p>\n
Despite that advantage, the judges sided with Han.<\/p>\n
Han said she believed she did enough to retain her title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I did enough to win. Holly definitely made her adjustments, and she was better. It was definitely a closer fight, but I felt that I was in control and I had this fight. Boxing is, it\u2019s how you see it, and according to all three judges, one had it a draw and the other two had me winning. It was a close fight, but I did enough to win,\u201d Han said.<\/p>\n
Holm disagreed with the result.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a very honest and self-reflecting fighter. If I don\u2019t feel I won, I\u2019m not going to say it, and I really feel I did,\u201d Holm said. \u201cHere\u2019s what\u2019s frustrating about it: a lot of these judges haven\u2019t fought before, and you leave a piece of yourself every time. And then it\u2019s just up to them to take it away from you if they want. And it\u2019s easy for them to go home and sleep at night. But every fight, you put so much into it, and when it comes out like that, if I didn\u2019t feel like I did enough, I wouldn\u2019t be saying that. I felt like I won the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The loss is the first time in Holm\u2019s professional boxing career that she has suffered back-to-back defeats.<\/p>\n
For Han, the victory extends her reign atop the WBA lightweight division and sets up several potential high-profile opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next fight I want, I know all the fighters want her is Katie Taylor,\u201d Han said.<\/p>\n
However, WBO and WBC lightweight champion Caroline Dubois made it clear Saturday night that she wants a unification bout with Han.<\/p>\n
Dubois attended Han\u2019s post-fight press conference and asked the champion directly about a potential matchup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t get the Katie Taylor fight, because let\u2019s be realistic, there\u2019s so many girls in this weight division, everyone\u2019s calling out Katie Taylor, if you don\u2019t get that fight, who do you want?\u201d Dubois asked.<\/p>\n
Han\u2019s answer left little doubt she would welcome the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I don\u2019t get the Katie Taylor fight, I want to fight you. I want to fight champions. You are holding two of the belts, and our goals are to be undisputed. So, if I don\u2019t get Katie Taylor, let\u2019s do it. I\u2019m being serious. I would love the opportunity,\u201d Han said.<\/p>\n
Whether her next fight is against Taylor, Dubois or another contender, Han walked out of the El Paso County Coliseum on Saturday night with her title still in hand.<\/p>\n
And despite the controversy surrounding the decision, she remains the WBA lightweight champion of the world.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n
\u00a0For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) \u2014 El Paso\u2019s Stephanie Han is still the WBA women\u2019s lightweight champion after earning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[114063,138,140,139,49368,113565,49369],"class_list":["post-317897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-caroline-dubois","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-holly-holm","tag-katie-taylor","tag-stephanie-han"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}