By David Finger at ringside

In the final fight of the night in El Paso, Texas, local hero Jennifer Han survived one of the toughest fights of her career, winning a grueling unanimous decision over rugged Bolivian Liz Crespo in an IBF featherweight title fight. Han boxed beautifully in the opening rounds but by round three the relentless pressure from Crespo clearly began to pay dividends as the local champion struggled to keep the brawler at bey. Han was clearly bothered by a cut in round four and seemed unable to establish her chief weapon: the jab. But Han started to find her rhythm again in round seven, winning the round by establishing her distance. Crespo came back strong in round nine and going into the final round it looked like anyone’s fight. But Han dug deep to outwork Crespo in the final round, winning a close unanimous decision by scores of 98-92 and 96-94 (twice). Fightnews also had Han winning by a score of 96-94. With the win, Han improved to 17-3-1, 1 KO while Crespo slips to 12-4, 3 KOs.