Holly Holm achieves something unprecedented with nearly every one of her combat sports victories.

So now, coming off a June triumph that followed her 2022 International Boxing Hall of Fame induction, Holm seeks to regain a world boxing title for the first time since 2013, when she left the sport for the UFC – and to make more history – by defeating Ronda Rousey and winning that league’s bantamweight title.

At 44, Holm, 34-2-3 (9 KOs), will meet WBA lightweight titleholder Stephanie Han, 11-0 (3 KOs), Saturday in Puerto Rico on a card headlined by Amanda Serrano and streamed on DAZN.

“Fighting for a title is great … that’s what I’m here to do,” Holm told BoxingScene in an interview following her weigh-in for the 135lbs bout. 

Holm produced a sharp, active showing in June, posting a unanimous decision triumph over Mexico’s Yolanda Vega, 30, in Anaheim, California.

Holm’s fighting acumen, fitness and experience all shined in that fight, and she believes the same attributes will carry her to victory over Han, 35.

“I like the matchup versus anyone,” Holm, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, said. “This time, I’m fighting an undefeated fighter, and I like that. I want to be able to give her her first loss.

“Anytime, you’ve been into the deep waters of a fight, it gives you the confidence you need for the next one. I know I can face anything. I’ve faced a lot of styles. I’ve faced a lot of trials. And I’ve made it through. That gives me a lot of experience, confidence and a belief in myself.”

By signing with Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions last year, Holm has been sent right into a title fight and given a far greater platform than women’s boxing possessed both when Holm made her pro boxing debut in 2002 and when she departed for the UFC after winning boxing belts as a welterweight and 140lbs champion.

“I’m so thankful for MVP and their belief in women’s boxing, and I’m ready to put on a show,” Holm said.

“There were great champions when I was [first boxing], but we didn’t have the platform to showcase it. To have the opportunity, thankfully, to showcase women’s boxing means so much.”

That was seen in MVP’s trilogy of fights between Serrano and undisputed junior welterweight champion Katie Taylor.

With a Saturday victory, Holm is positioned as the next belt holder up for Ireland’s Taylor, 39, who has gone from winning an Olympic gold medal to an undercard Madison Square Garden bout under an Anthony Joshua fight in 2019 to her own main event there versus Puerto Rico’s Serrano.

“Winning this fight is what’s on my mind, and after that, I would love to fight Katie Taylor,” Holm said.

That would mean Holm would have fought Mia St. John, Christy Martin, Anne Sophie Mathis, Rousey, Cris Cyborg, Amanda Nunes and Taylor during her decorated, historical career – a resume unlike any other.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.