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

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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.

J'Leon Love Will Face Dashon Johnson on September 16

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Photo courtesy of Sean Michael Ham / Premier Boxing Champions

Boxing Scene - By Francisco Salazar

J'Leon Love will face Dashon Johnson on September 16, matchmaker John Beninati told BoxingScene.com.

The 10 round bout will take place inside the Chelsea Ballroom at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nev.

It is an intriguing crossroads bout between super middleweights, one vying for a world title opportunity and the other who has had a resurgence of sorts in recent years.

 

Love (22-1 1 ND, 12 KOs) has fought only once in 2016, stopping Michael Gbenga after the fifth round on April 1.

Love has won his last four bouts in a row since suffering his only defeat at the hands of Rogelio 'Porky' Medina in August of 2014.

Johnson (21-19-3, 6 KOs) has won six of his last seven bouts, with the lone blemish against Jesse Hart in a close fight.

Johnson has fought a who's who of world titleholders, contenders, and prospects. He has scored occasional upsets, including Mike Gavronski, Craig McEwan, and Elias Espadas.

In the main event of the Mayweather Promotions card, junior middleweight Ishe Smith (28-8, 12 KOs) will face Frank Galarza (17-1-2, 11 KOs) and unbeaten junior middleweight Domonique Dalton (17-0-1, 9 KOs) squares off against Justin DeLoach (15-1, 8 KOs).

Both bouts are scheduled for 10 rounds and will air on Bounce TV.

No word if the Love-Johnson fight will also be added to the live broadcast or be part of the non-televised undercard.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing 

J'Leon Love Gets Off The Deck To Stop Escalera

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Photo courtesy of Lucan Noonan / Premier Boxing Champions

Boxing Scene - By Rick Reeno

MGM Grand, Las Vegas - Ronald Gavril (13-1) won an eight round unanimous decision over Jessie Nicklow (24-7).

Cruiserweight prospect Andrew Tabiti (10-0, 10KOs) continued his destruction streak by knocking out Thomas Hanshaw (6-6) in two rounds.

Lanell Bellows won an eight round unanimous decision over Marcus Upshaw (17-14).

Super middleweight contender J'Leon Love (20-1, 11KOs) survived a first round knockdown and came back to stop Jason Escalera (15-4, 12KOs)in the seventh round. 

It was all-out war in the first round, with both fighters trading hard punches at close range. Escalera appeared to get stunned, but then landed a hard counter hook that dropped Love. Once he beat the count, they resumed the back and forth war with Love getting the better of the action.

As the fight played out, Love was landed more and more punches, breaking Escalera down. By the sixth round Escalera was taking a beating. During the seventh, a Love combination practically turned Escalera's entire body and sent him flying backwards into the ropes. After taking a good look at him, the referee waved it off and Escalera's corner was ready to throw in the towel. 

Junior welterweight Charvis Holifield (3-1, 2KOs) stopped Charles Dubray (2-3, 2KOs) in the third round. Dubray went down three times before the fight was waved off. 

 In a much tougher fight than he probably expected, Haskell Rhodes (23-0-1, 11KOs) barley held on to his undefeated record with an eight round split draw against Jared Robinson (15-2-1). Both fighters had their moments, but Robinson came on strong in the last three rounds with some very telling combinations that certainly caught Rhodes' attention. The scores were 77-75 for Rhodes, 77-75 for Robinson and 76-76.