IBF female featherweight champion Jennifer Han suffered an ankle injury late last week and as a result, has forced promoters to reschedule her title defense against #1 contender Lizbeth Cresop. The bout was originally set for December 1 at the El Paso County Coliseum.

Once doctors determined that Han would be available to fight in late January, her promoter, Luigi Olcese of Pandora International, moved to reschedule the event and settled on January 27 at UTEP’s Don Haskins Center. According to Olcese, he and the Han team had no choice but to reschedule the event. “We’re very disappointed to have to reschedule, but there is no way Jennifer (Han) can fight on December 1st,” noted her New Jersey-based promoter.

“It was a decision made basically by the doctor, who instructed her to lay off the ankle for the next 2-3 weeks before resuming her workouts. So after discussing with Jennifer and her trainer, Louie Burke, we knew that meant no fight on December 1st and we would have to now go in late January.”

Han says the injury was a freak accident while teaching one of her martial arts classes. “I really can’t believe it happened,” said a baffled Han. “I’ve been teaching classes for several years and never had an injury. Somehow I sprained my left ankle and eventually it began to swell. It knew it was pretty bad, but was hoping I could somehow fight on December 1st. It became obvious quickly we would have to delay it.