By Jake Donovan

BILOXI, MISS—It wasn’t the performance Sergio Mora expected, but then neither was the night in general compared to what he originally signed on for when accepting assignment.

What began in the promotion as a shot at two-time middleweight titlist Jermain Taylor ultimately became a grueling 12-round split decision win over Abraham ‘Abie’ Han in their regional title fight Friday evening at Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.

As far as Mora is concerned, it’s a night he can put behind him as he eyes another avenue for a shot at a second major title.

“That dude can take a shot, I give him credit,” a cut and exhausted Mora told BoxingScene.com shortly after his win, which aired live on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights. “It was a tough, dirty, grueling fight. He came to fight, like I expected. In the end, I know I beat him.”

The evening began in that fashion, with Mora—who vowed to become a more fan-friendly fighter in recent years—serving as the aggressor, hoping to catch Han while he was still cold. The opportunity was always in place for Mora, but Han didn’t get the call until around Martin Luther King Jr. Day, or shortly after Taylor landed back on the very wrong side of the law.

Even with minimal time to prepare for the biggest opportunity of his career, Han feels like he won the fight in the ring but lost to the politics of the sport.

“I had two weeks to train for this fight, look how I did,” a dejected Han told BoxingScene.com in his dressing room after the fight. “Just imagine if I had a full training camp like he did.”

The night evolved into a tale of two fights. Han circled the ring in the early rounds, as if to acclimate himself to the ring. It’s only been 3 ½ months since his last fight – a gutsy 10-round win over Marcos Reyes last October – but it took a few rounds before he began to increase his punch output.

Movement and offensive spurts eventually transitioned to clean, effective punching for Han, who began to win over the crowd as the night proceeded. The first signs of perhaps a long evening ahead came at the end of round three, when Mora was sent to the canvas by what the referee ruled as incidental contact.

A replay suggested what Han believed the sequence to be – a left hook that forced him to the canvas.

“It doesn’t matter what Mora was doing on the way down. A punch lands, a fighter falls, you call it a knockdown,” Han insists. “It’s like no matter what I did, they were just gonna take it from me.”

While the knockdown didn’t count, it was enough to get Han in motion. He and his camp thought things were going fine, but the beauty of technology allowed them to eavesdrop on how the outside world saw the fight.

“I thought he was outboxing him from the beginning,” believes trainer Louis Burke. “But then we hear Teddy has (Mora) winning, that everyone thought my guy was losing, so we made some adjustments to gain control of the fight.”

Han was a different fighter over the course of the second half of the contest. It also helped that Mora was cut over both eyes, beginning to slow down and also overcome an injured left knee on which he fought in a makeshift brace.

What appeared to be a close fight suddenly swung in Han’s favor beginning with a knockdown in round ten. The lone knockdown of the night came late in the round, with Mora floored by a combination upstairs, but able to shake it off and finish on his feet.

Making it to the final bell, it turned out, was enough to win the fight on two of the three scorecards. The crowd didn’t like the decision, but what the audience saw and what three judges on opposing sides of the ring believed to be the case aren’t always one and the same.

One judge had Han winning 115-112, but was overruled by scores of 114-113 and 115-112 in favor of Mora, who has now won five straight and inches closer towards a middleweight title.

“Everyone loves an underdog, and the kid hung in there all night,” acknowledges the 34-year old Mora, a former 154 lb. titlist and the first winner of the now-defunct The Contender reality boxing series. “We’re closer to Texas than we are to California, that’s for sure. So you expect the crowd to pull for him. It wasn’t a pretty win for me, but in the end, it’s still a win.”

For his opponent, a moral victory is all he can take from the night.

“It means a lot that the fans and the media are saying that I won,” acknowledged Han, who fights out of El Paso, Texas. “I knew taking this fight – he’s the connected guy, who knows who’s running the show here (Mora is advised by Al Haymon). I’m a free agent, I don’t have a promoter, I’m just in the gym training, and waiting for the phone to ring so I can get a fight.”

So while his stock goes up in defeat, chances are his luck doesn’t figure to change anytime soon.

“I’d love a rematch with Mora. I’d love a fight with any big middleweight. But I know my situation. Any fight I take, I’m going to be the B-side,” Han realizes. “I just have to knock on the door harder, keeping punching ‘till I push my way through.”

Meanwhile, Mora plans to sit down with his team shortly after his facial wounds heal, which the unofficial doctor in him believes will be around May or June. From there, it’s whoever wants it as far as he’s concerned.

“This was supposed to be my title shot, but all that happened with Jermain,” Mora mentions, reminding the room of Taylor’s repeat run-ins with the law that has him jailed and now forced to vacate his title.

The IBF formally stripped Taylor on Friday, announcing a vacant title fight has been ordered between the top two leading middleweight contenders. Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam is the mandatory challenger, while former four-time titlist Felix Sturm is the next highest rated contender. The two camps have until business close on Monday, February 9 to accept the fight, otherwise the IBF will go down the list of challengers before finding two to fight for the belt.

Mora and Han were ranked #14 and #15 respectively by the IBF. With its regional title at stake and now around Mora’s waist, the win and new status should result in a ratings boost. How high he goes will dictate the reality of his getting called to fight next for the title.

“I can definitely see a fight happening between me and N’Dam,” Mora envisions. “If not him, there’s Andy Lee or Peter Quillin, whoever wins their (April 11) fight. There’s Daniel Jacobs, there’s Triple G (Gennady Golovkin), Miguel Cotto… there’s a lot of middleweights out there and I’m at this division to stay. I truly believe one of those guys will be my next fight.”

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox