Stephanie Han didn’t have a choice. She and her siblings were going to take up combat sports whether they wanted to or not.
“I grew up doing martial arts,” Han, the WBA lightweight titlist, told BoxingScene this week. “My dad is from Korea, and his profession when he immigrated to the United States was teaching martial arts. So there's five kids in my family, and he made all of us do martial arts. And my oldest siblings were so dominant in kickboxing that no one wanted to fight them. So they started boxing because that's how they got fights, and because they did it, me and my younger siblings had to follow in their footsteps.”
Han, 10-0 (3 KOs), started boxing in the amateur ranks in 2006, when she was 16, but temporarily hung up the gloves just a few years later.
“My dad forced all of us to do it, and, you know, it’s not fun when you have a crazy dad, but I didn’t appreciate him fully then,” she said. “I quit when I was around 20 years old, and I ended up meeting my husband, falling deeply in love, and then getting married and becoming a police officer and having my two kids.”
In other words, she explains, life happened. It was a life with which the El Paso native was fully content, but in time boxing would come knocking again. Whereas Stephanie and two of her four siblings were happy to walk away from the sport, one brother and one sister persisted, and by 2021 that sister, Jennifer, had earned a shot at lightweight champion Katie Taylor.
Stephanie, by then 10 years removed from the ring, offered to provide sparring as part of her sister’s preparation, and that, she explains, “reignited the spark.”
Her pro debut came in October 2021, a month after Jennifer dropped a unanimous decision to Taylor; in February this year, she erased Hannah Terlap inside a round to win the WBA belt. Four months later, she was the latest recruit to Most Valuable Promotions’ burgeoning roster of female talent, and this Saturday she defends her title against Paulina Angel on an MVP card from the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida.
“Being part of MVP is a dream come true,” she says. “They are taking over women’s boxing, and I’m so proud and so glad to be part of this team. I don’t know how it happened. I became world champion in February, and I followed the CEO [Nakisa Bidarian] on Instagram, and we were messaging, and it just happened. I’m so glad it did, because this is definitely the team that every female boxer wants to be on.”
Angel, from Colombia, comes to the contest with a record of 7-1-2 (3 KOs), and at 24 is ten years Han’s junior.
“Well, I am older than most of my opponents,” Han chuckles. “I know that she’s very motivated. I know that she’s aggressive, and every boxer dreams of an opportunity to fight for a world title, so I know she’s hungry for it. But I’m not going to let her get it. I’ve been training with my family, I’ve been training with my coach, and I’m ready for whatever she brings.”
Victory on Saturday could set up Han for a clash with boxing and MMA star Holly Holm, whom MVP also recently signed, and while not wanting to disrespect or look past Angel, Han knows that a matchup with the conqueror of Ronda Rousey would be a huge opportunity.
“I think Holly Holm is an absolute legend. She made my day when she knocked out Ronda Rousey,” she says. “I’m from El Paso, Texas, and Albuquerque, where she’s from, is three hours away from where I live. She’s such a legend in the fighting world, but also because we’re so close by, I would be ecstatic to fight her.”
Han’s has been a lengthier and more circuitous path than most, with the extra demands of one of her children developing an extremely rare genetic condition known as Nicolaides-Baraitser Syndrome; but, she insists, she wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“I would not be who I am without living life and going through hardships as a police officer, or as a mother with my daughter’s disability,” she asserts. “I am so much more appreciative towards life and so grateful. So I would not trade me taking a break of 10 years in boxing, because it’s definitely made me stronger in every sense.”
And on Saturday night, the man who started it all, who forced Han and her siblings onto the path that has brought her to this point, will be cheering her on.
“My dad is the reason why we're doing this, and my dad, he's getting older, but I'm so glad that he's still alive, and it's truly a family dream come true,” she explains. “My dad's gonna be at the fights on Saturday, and I truly want to make him proud. I truly am grateful for all the sacrifices he made for us as kids to even get to this point.”
