Holly Holm is coming for Stephanie Han's title belt 

Her respect for Holly Holm, Stephanie Han said on Tuesday, knows few bounds. 

But how respectful will Han be Saturday night, when she steps into a San Juan, Puerto Rico boxing ring to do battle with the object of her admiration?

Chances are, once the first punch lands, respect will be the last thing on either fighter’s mind. 

Holm, boxing Hall of Famer from Albuquerque, and Han, police officer and mother of two from El Paso, are scheduled for a 10-round bout on a Most Valuable Promotions card at Coliseo Roberto Clemente. Han’s World Boxing Association lightweight (135-pound) title will be at stake. 

At a news conference in San Juan on Tuesday, Han showered praise on her opponent.

“Fighting Holly Holm is like a dream come true,” Han said. “… To have the opportunity to share the ring with her, someone I’ve always looked up to … 

“Thank you, Holly Holm.”

Holm, all business, did not respond in kind on Tuesday. But in interviews with the Journal last month, Holm and Mike Winkeljohn, her longtime trainer, expressed respect for Han as a worthy opponent. 

It is Han, after all, who holds the title belt.

Han, 35, has yet to suffer a defeat as a professional boxer — though her 11-0 record (three knockouts) has not been compiled against competition coming anywhere close to matching Holm’s resume. 

Holm (34-2-3, nine KOs) won myriad world titles during a pro boxing career that began 2002, appeared to end in 2013 when she opted to focus full time on MMA, then resumed in June with a convincing victory over Mexico’s Yolanda Vega.

The Albuquerque southpaw was 43 when she came back to boxing; she turned 44 in October. Her age didn’t appear to be a factor against Vega. 

Nor is Han, at 35, a young fighter. If Saturday’s bout turns out to be a fight for the ages, it likely won’t have anything to do with birth dates. 

Oddmakers aren’t seeing it as a pitched battle, listing Holm, the challenger, as a solid though not overwhelming favorite. The variable might actually be Han, the champion, a lesser-known quantity to the boxing world at large. 

Han is trained by Las Cruces’ Louie Burke, who took fellow Las Crucen Austin Trout and Jennifer Han, Stephanie’s older sister, to world titles in the past. 

Vega, who lost every round on all three scorecards, showed Holm nothing she hadn’t seen before. Han, with Burke’s guidance, should provide a stiffer test of where Holm is in her comeback to the sport. 

Numbers

3: Holm and Han will be fighting three-minute rounds, a rare departure for women’s boxing — such bouts traditionally staged with two-minute rounds. 

There’s some opposition to this, critics believing that women are more susceptible to concussions than men — holding, for the same reason, that women’s title matches should not be scheduled for 12 rounds. 

Holm and Han, though, embrace the change.

“We’re showing that women are just as capable as men,” Han said during Tuesday’s news conference, “and we definitely could put on a show. 

“And why not? Why not show that we’re just as strong?”

Holm pointed out that she fought five-minute rounds during her 13-year MMA career. As a boxer, she typically trained for three-minute rounds even knowing she’d be fighting two-minute rounds in competition.

“(But) to have that new journey, being able to experience it when you have three-minute rounds in an actual fight in boxing, I’m excited for it.”

135: Holm has won boxing titles at 140, 147 and 154 pounds but never at 135, the weight at which she competed almost exclusively in MMA. 

To win a boxing world title in a fourth weight class, she said, is a prime motivator entering Saturday’s fight.

“I’m always wanting to do something I haven't done before, or maybe that hasn’t been done at all,” she said. “… That gives me the drive. And that’s my goal.”