Terrible Head-Butt Leads Love & Han to Majority Techincal Draw

Boxing Scene - By Keith Idec

A brutal head-butt brought the J’Leon Love-Abie Han fight to an abrupt, unusual conclusion Friday night.

The super middleweights were engaged in a competitive fight scheduled for 10 rounds when an accidental clash of heads left Han unable to continue in Las Vegas. Blood began pouring from a cut near the left corner of Han’s forehead and he went down to the canvas, where he was writhing in pain as referee Kenny Bayless tended to him.

The bout ended at 1:02 of the eighth round, which sent the fight to the scorecards. It resulted in a majority technical draw because two judges – Tim Cheatham and Patricia Morse Jarman – scored it even (76-76).

Judge Richard Ocasio strangely scored the fight 79-73 for Las Vegas’ Love (23-1-1, 13 KOs, 1 NC), who’s promoted by Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s company. Ocasio scored seven of the eight rounds for Love, who had difficulty at times dealing with Han’s awkward style.

Han (26-3-1, 16 KOs), of El Paso, Texas, had to be helped down from the ring and was wheeled away from it on a stretcher as a precaution.

Love-Han was the second of three fights Showtime aired as part of a “ShoBox: The New Generation” tripleheader from The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Before the odd ending, the fight was close, though not especially entertaining.

Han switched to a southpaw stance and tried to confuse Love early in the fight. In the second round, Han landed two hard, straight right hands to Love’s jaw.

Han also connected with a counter left hook late in the second round. He followed that up with an overhand right to Love’s head as they traded in the center of the ring.

Love got hit less in the third round, but Han was the busier, more effective fighter in those three minutes. Love landed a hard right hand that backed up Han just after the two-minute mark of the fourth round.

Han repeatedly shook his right hand in the fifth round, but it wasn’t clear if he hurt it. Regardless, Han continued throwing it in the sixth round.

Neither fighter landed many clean punches during the seventh round. The eighth round was competitive as well prior to the accidental clash of heads.

Love, 29, ended nearly a one-year layoff Friday night. He hadn’t fought since stopping Dashon Johnson in the sixth round last September 16 in Las Vegas.

Han, 32, moved up from middleweight to box Love and fought for just the second time in two years. Before Friday night, his first-round knockout of overmatched Martin Rodriguez (4-21) was Han’s only fight since August 2015.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.