100-90 times three: Holm easily defeats Vega in her return to boxing

It was by no means the first shutout Holly Holm has pitched, but it might have been the most satisfying.

Holm, in near-complete control throughout, defeated Mexico’s Yolanda Vega by unanimous decision in the Albuquerque left-hander’s return to the ring after a 12-year hiatus while pursuing a highly successful career in MMA.

All three officials scored the bout 100-90, giving Holm all 10 rounds — a shutout. That’s something she’d done six times before, but never until now at age 43 after a 12-year layoff.

Holm is 34-2-3 with nine knockouts. Vega, of Ciudad Obregôn, Sonora, tasted defeat for the first time and is 10-1 with one KO.

Before abandoning the ring to fight MMA, Holm, a boxing Hall of Famer, had won world titles at 140, 147 and 154 pounds. After competing at 135 pounds in MMA, Holm came back to the ring in hopes of winning a boxing world title at that weight.

Saturday’s bout was contracted at 137 pounds. Holm weighed 136.6 pounds, Vega 138.8.

There were no knockdowns. Vega, though hit repeatedly, never appeared to be in real trouble.

“I wanted to finish (Vega) early,” an ebullient Holm said in the ring after the bout, “but I also didn’t mind going 10 rounds, you know, because I do want to fight for a title, and I know the girls are just going to keep getting tougher.

“So it was a great right tonight.”

From the outset, it was target practice. Holm speared Vega almost at will with right jabs and straight lefts, mixing in blows to the body.

Vega had compiled her 10-0 record against fighters far less skilled than Holm and who, for the most part, stood in front of her and traded punches.

Holm, free of the need to throw kicks, fend off takedown attempts and wrestle in the clinch, gave Vega an elusive target — landing her shots and moving laterally. Vega landed isolated shots but nothing that seemed to faze Holm.

The victory on a card promoted by YouTube influencer-turned-boxer-turned promoter Jake Paul moves Holm at least a bit closer to a lightweight (135-pound) title shot. El Paso’s Stephanie Han, the undefeated (10-0, three KOs) WBA lightweight champion, recently signed with Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions and has been mentioned as a possible opponent for Holm.

“Han would be great,” Holm said. “Also, Taylor-Serrano,” referring to a July 11 title fight between Amanda Serrano and undisputed super lightweight champion Katie Taylor. Like Holm and Han, Serrano is an MVP contract fighter.

Han has yet to be matched on an MVP card, but she’s likely to face Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira, the IBF lightweight champion, in her first MVP bout.

“Just, hey, let’s all chase our dreams, you know?” Holm said. “So we’ll see where we go from here,”

In Holm’s corner, as always, was longtime trainer Mike Winkeljohn, accompanied by Holm’s Jackson-Wink MMA teammate Chris “Breezy” Brown. They were joined in the ring after the bout by Lenny Fresquez, her longtime Albuquerque promoter/agent, and wrestling coach Izzy Martinez. Holm scolded herself after the bout for “not listening” to her corner advice during the early rounds.

“Well, I heard them,” she explained, “but I wasn’t doing what they said. ... Just the things they were telling me.”

Whatever it was Holm wasn’t doing in the first three rounds, the judges didn’t see it. Nor did the Journal, which also scored it a shutout.

Holm was asked by post-fight interviewer Ariel Helwani if she felt she’d proved herself to any doubters.

“To everyone who said Holly Holm didn’t have it anymore,” Helwani said, “to everyone who did not believe, what is your message to them?”

Holm responded: “They’ve been telling me to retire since 2012. ... You guys will know when I retire, because it will come from my mouth.”