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Abraham (Abbie) Han had for years proven his worth and the family’s pride. He rang up an astonishing amateur kickboxing record recording over eighty wins against only a handful of losses. In 2002 he stormed through the competition at the T.A.C.K.A. Full Contact Kickboxing Championships winning the Gold Medal for Team Han. In the following few years he captured state and regional titles in both kickboxing and boxing. When the money was right and his experience banked, it was off to Florida for the 2005 I.K.F. North American Kickboxing Championships. No problem.

Abraham finished off his preliminary foes in the first round and then banged out a unanimous verdict over undefeated Kam, Poland kickboxer, Brunon Sokolowski, in the finals to once again capture gold. Abbie would return to Florida the next two years to win two more IKF titles and more gold for the El Paso dynasty.
A strange, even curious arrangement happened to Abbie on his way to winning the middleweight division of at the 2006 IBW World classic Kickboxing Championships. He fought his way to the finals where he was to meet London’s Gene Durrant. For whatever reason, possibly fright, Durrant refused to fight Han. So Han challenged super-heavyweight Cory Terry of Denver, Colorado who accepted his challenge but only as an exhibition. He shouldn’t have obliged the young and hungry tiger. Han knocked him out in two rounds. There is an old adage that says that a great little man can beat a good big man but a great big man will beat a great little man. I am sure I corrupted the original statement but the essence of the content is factual. Just consider Jack Johnson and Stanley Ketchel for example. Both were superb athletes and in their prime when they met in a much ballyhooed fight in 1909. Ketchel performed beyond expectations, even flooring the giant Johnson.

Johnson shook off the knockdown and buried Ketchel with a dynamite right hand. Four of Ketchel’s teeth were imbedded in Johnson’s glove. Ouch!
Abbie, as he is affectionately known by family and friends, felt the urge to take up boxing more seriously. Master Han and Jennifer obliged and he was up at the crack of dawn every day to be able to work another discipline into his multiple martial arts schedule. Many learned trainers would swear that the Han regimen was too long, too intense, and too much and therefore doomed to burn out the young warriors. Those feelings are usually proven true for most athletes, but the Han dynasty fighters are always fit and ready for war; and their weapons always sharp. To date, the term ‘over-trained’ hasn’t registered in their vocabulary. Abbie is no exception. His brutal workouts showed no evidence of stress or strain when he dashed through state and regional’s on his way to the 2005 Amateur World Championship where he eclipsed the talent and won solid gold. In fact, Abbie has won over one hundred boxing and kickboxing matches to date.

One can not rest on their laurels in the Han dynasty. So often in boxing and kickboxing, judging is at best subjective. Acutely aware of the circumstances, Master Han along with Jennifer as General spent countless hours of mental preparation around the training sessions of their warriors and in preparation for battle. In Short, the judges must be considered as inconsequential to the outcome and the ‘War Plan’ the top consideration. After all, Master Han is cognizant of the methodology of battle strategy from the 6th Century China BCE masterpiece “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu, originally known as ‘Sun Tzu big Fa.” Of particular importance to the Han’s is the phrase, “The good fighters first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat.”

Abraham had met all the necessary criteria so far in his career to qualify as a top Han warrior. He had earned a 3rd Degree Blckbelt in Tae Kwon Do, a 3rd Degree Blackbelt in Hapki Do and Hoi Jeon Moo Sool. He had demonstrated his fighting prowess in numerous major national and international championships in the martial arts. Now that his boxing prowess had improved significantly, he wanted more of it, lots more of it. Master Han agreed and Abraham was ordered to train with Jennifer six days a week from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. He runs and swims with the family warriors and lately has traveled to Las Cruces , New Mexico to train and learn under former fighter and Las Cruces PAL owner/trainer. Louie Burke. He needed an experienced trainer in the professional ranks and Burke fit the bill. His professional boxing debut was arranged for December 21, 2007 in Las Cruces , New Mexico .

There were no butterflies for Abraham in his maiden event. He was a strapping six feet tall and fighting in the middleweight division. His adversary was Sergio Lara of San Antonio , Texas and he didn’t last a round against the confident and heavy-fisted Han. He was stopped in the first round by TKO.

It took nine more months to line up another victim and it happened on September 12, 2008 in Lawton , Oklahoma . This time Abraham faced up against Shawnee , Oklahoman Chris Shelton . Han paid no attention to the home state crowd and put away Shelton in the first round with a crushing right hand that left the Okie limp and done.

Next up for the anxious Han was Hiram Elier Lleverino of Torreon , Mexico . The bout took place March 14, 2009. It was no match as Han hustled to the attack and stopped the Mexican by TKO in the first round.

All seemed well and the going great. However, Master Han wanted his son to test his developing boxing skills against a better opponent. It happened.
Ibahiem King of West Palm Beach, Florida was also gaining notice in the middleweight division with an undefeated record of 6-0. He agreed to meet Abraham at a neutral site, San Diego, California. The match was made for May 21, 2009 and it was a thriller. Han had to pace himself and use some deceptive strategy to force an elusive King into his body shot range. It worked and Han battered and bruised the very willing King who made valiant efforts to trade vicious body blows with the Han warrior. The resilient King endured the six - rounder yet tasted defeat for the first time as Han easily won a unanimous decision.
It only took Burke a couple of months to land Abraham another fight on a card in El Paso, Texas. He was on the undercard of headliner Tony Escalante at The Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas. His opponent was another undefeated boxer, Brian Soto, from San Antonio, Texas. From all appearances this looked to be a very exciting match. It wasn’t, Han exploded his devastating power in both hands and Soto absorbed too many shots to the body and head, barely angling to his corner after the beating he took in round one. He had no gas in his tank for round two and Han knocked him senseless. The win was good but Han was disappointed that he didn’t get more work. He pleaded with Burke to obtain another fight for him as soon as possible.
Han didn’t have to wait long, only seven days later, Friday, July 31, 2009 Burke signed him to fight El Pasoan, Sergio Santana, on the undercard of a Las Cruces Pan American boxing card featuring a very amateurish and inexperienced large heavyweight, George Foreman III. The fight went well for Han but Santana gave a dull performance. His only highlight of the fight was to prove that he had just enough stamina to make it to the second round when Han’s deep thrusting body shots were enough for Santana’s cornermen who threw in the towel before the referee could stop the fight. At least they saved their fighter from further punishment. There have been entirely too many cases of boxers going to the morgue lately. Wise decisions by ring physicians, coaches and referee’s can help reduce those deadly incidents. As for Han, he may not have the action he desired but he caught the attention of the El Paso Times where sportswriter James Groves featured his victory with a perfectly executed uppercut photo delivered in a front page sports story, Saturday, August 1, 2009. No doubt about it, Abraham Han is holding up his end of dynasty conquest. So too is his little sister Stephanie, a diminutive dynamite fighter in her own right. (Continue--->)

 

 

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