Jennifer Han (born June 25, 1983) is an American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who held the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

female

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this ...

title from 2015 to 2020, and was the first world champion boxer from

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

. As of July 2021, she is ranked as the world's sixth best active female lightweight by

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

Professional career

Han made her professional debut on July 31, 2009, losing via

majority decision A majority decision (MD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking. In a majority decision, two of the three judges agree on which ...

(MD) over four rounds against Melissa St. Vil at the

Pan American Center Pan American Center is a multi–purpose arena in Las Cruces, New Mexico, located on the campus of New Mexico State University. The arena has a current seating capacity of 12,515 people. The arena serves as home of the New Mexico State Aggies M ...

Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; "the crosses") is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385. Las Cruces is the largest city in both Doña Ana County and southern New ...

. After compiling a record of 10–2–1 (1 KO), she challenged reigning champion Ji-Hye Woo for the IFBA

title on March 23, 2014, at the Wooseul Gymnasium in

Haenam Haenam (''Haenam-gun'') is a county in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. The capital of Haenam-gun is Haenam-eup (Haenam town). The economy of the county is based mainly on agriculture, with rice and radish being the two most common crops. Hist ...

, South Korea. Han suffered the third defeat of her career, losing via ten-round MD. Two judges scored the bout 97–95 and 96–93 in favor of Woo while the third judge scored it a draw at 95–95. Two fights later, she was scheduled to face

Helen Joseph Helen Beatrice Joseph (''née'' Fennell) (8 April 1905 – 25 December 1992) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Born in Sussex, England, Helen graduated with a degree in English from the University of London in 1927 and then departed ...

on April 18, 2015, with the vacant IBF female featherweight title on the line. However, Joseph was forced to withdraw from the bout after she was unable to obtain a

VISA Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

to enter the U.S..

Fatuma Zarika Zarika Njeri Kanghete (born 13 March 1985), commonly known as Fatuma Zarika, is a Kenyan professional boxer. She held the WBC female super-bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a weight class in professional bo ...

stepped in as a late replacement, with Han emerging victorious via

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...

(UD) to capture the vacant IBF female Intercontinental featherweight title. The fight with Joseph for the vacant IBF world title was rescheduled for September 19, and took place at the

Don Haskins Center The Don Haskins Center, formerly known as the Special Events Center, is the home of UTEP Miners men's and women's basketball. The venue is located in the heart of El Paso, Texas. In addition to hosting sporting events, the Don Haskins Center is al ...

. Han captured her first world title via UD with the judges' scorecards reading 98–91, 98–92 and 97–92. With the victory, Han became the first world champion boxer from El Paso. After two successful defences of her world title, Han faced Olivia Gerula on February 17, 2017, at the Don Haskins Center. At the pre-fight weigh-in, Gerula weighed 1.5 lbs over the maximum weight limit, making her ineligible to contest for the IBF championship. With the title still on the line for Han, she made a successful defence, winning via UD with all three judges scoring the bout 100–89. She made one more defence–a UD victory against Lizbeth Crespo in February 2018–before taking two years away from the sport after giving birth to a child in May 2019. Han returned to the ring on February 15, 2020, scoring an eight-round UD victory against Jeri Sitzes in a non-title bout. Han relinquished her title in July 2020, and has moved up to the

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

division. Her first fight at the weight is scheduled to take place on September 4, 2021, at the

Headingley Rugby Stadium Headingley Rugby Stadium shares the same site as Headingley Cricket Ground and is home to Leeds Rhinos. Headingley is the List of Rugby League stadiums in England, 5th largest rugby league stadium in England. History 1889-1980s: Construc ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, England, against reigning champion

Katie Taylor Katie Taylor (born 2 July 1986) is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. She is a two-weight world champion and the current undisputed lightweight champion, having held the WBA title since 2017; the IBF title since 2018; and the ...

for the

undisputed Undisputed may refer to: Film * ''Undisputed'' (film), a 2002 action-thriller-drama film ** ''Undisputed'' (soundtrack), the soundtrack to the film * Undisputed II: Last Man Standing, a 2006 American martial arts film * Undisputed III: Redempt ...

female lightweight championship. The bout will be streamed live on

DAZN DAZN ( "da zone") is a global sports entertainment platform. Different to traditional linear and satellite broadcasting, DAZN is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service meaning that it is delivered directly to viewers via the internet. The ...

as part of the co-main event for the rematch between

Josh Warrington Josh Warrington (born 14 November 1990) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time world featherweight champion, having held the IBF title between 2018 and 2022. At regional level, he held the British, Commonwealth, European and WBC I ...

and Mauricio Lara.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Han, Jennifer Living people 1983 births American women boxers Boxers from Texas Sportspeople from El Paso, Texas World featherweight boxing champions Super-featherweight boxers International Boxing Federation champions 21st-century American women