COSTA MESA — Mikaela Mayer had the perfect homecoming until blood began to drip over her left eye and half her face swelled as her closest friends and relatives watched it unfold in the second round of her junior lightweight bout against the seasoned Jennifer Han.

Those closest to Mayer know it wasn’t an easy road for her to become a marquee fighter for Top Rank, the prestigious boxing promotional company. Mayer had a new contract and was headlining another ESPN-televised main event on Saturday for her first Southern California bout in four years.

But then Mayer suffered his first cut in a professional match to give her the latest obstacle. It was the wake up call Mayer needed to defeat Han by unanimous decision with scores of 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91 to retain her WBO and IBF junior lightweight titles Saturday night inside The Hangar at the OC Fair & Event Center.

“I feel like I did a lot of good things in there,” Mayer said in her postfight interview. “Her movement is what she does best and it throws you off. She gets her spacing in a little bit, so I had to throw her off and stay behind the jab.”

An aggressive Han controlled the pace early and opened a cut above Mayer’s left eye in the second round. But Mayer picked up the pace in the fourth round and made Han’s nose bleed with a left hook. Mayer (17-0, 5 KOs) didn’t look back from there and nearly had a knockout in the eighth round.

“I wanted to get the stoppage,” Mayer said. “I feel like I hurt her in the eighth round, almost finished her. This is another reason why I’m advocating for three-minute rounds.”

Mayer began boxing while she attended Miguel Leonis High School in Woodland Hills. The 2016 U.S. Olympian made her professional debut at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles nearly five years ago. But that was only her first of two Southern California bouts before Mayer made her return Saturday.

Mayer, 31, returned home as a unified champion and as one of the brightest stars in women’s boxing. She’s headline ESPN-televised events multiple times and earned a multi-year contract extension from Top Rank this week for drawing attention to women’s boxing.

“Ever since I walked into a gym 14 years ago, I’ve been fighting for a place for women in the sport and to prove that we are a powerful force in the sport of boxing,” Mayer said earlier this week. “This contract solidifies that. I’ve completed that goal to an extent. Obviously, there is a long way to go with creating equality in the sport and closing that gap, but I couldn’t be happier with this contract.”

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Mayer was well aware of Han’s 20 years of boxing experience as a former featherweight champion, but she also knows her from her amateur days. Han’s previous bout was a unanimous decision loss to undisputed lightweight champion Katie Taylor in September.

“I’ve known Jennifer for a long time,” Mayer said. “In one of my first amateur tournaments, she was there cornering for her sister. She was around, and she had already been in the game. She’s been in this game for a really long time. She comes from a family of fighters, so it’s in her blood.”

Mayer said she’s aiming to unify the junior lightweight division, but the last time she tried that she failed to land a bout against fellow champions Alycia Baumgardner and Choi Hyun-mi and that led her to the experienced Han (18-5-1, 1 KO).

“It’s no secret that I wanted to continue to unify,” Mayer said. “I wanted Alycia Baumgardner. I wanted Hyun Mi Choi. That was my first choice. They’re not quite ready to step up to that, I guess, so we had to look at another direction.”

Mayer said she’ll continue to chase the other champions in her division, but added that she wouldn’t mind facing the winner of Taylor versus Amanda Serrano on April 30.

“If they’re not going to give me that fight in a timely fashion, I’m game to go up and challenge the winner of Serrano versus Katie Taylor,” Mayer said.

UNDERCARD BOUTS

San Diego native Giovani Santillan didn’t disappoint his fans who made the short trip to watch him in the co-main event against Colombia’s Jeovanis Barraza. Santillan punished Barraza with fast hands before the official stopped the welterweight bout 33 seconds into the seventh round.

Australian Andrew Moloney had a dominant performance against Gilberto Mendoza, forcing the referee to stop the eight-round bantamweight bout with 32 seconds left.

Moloney’s twin brother, Jason, defeated Francisco Javier Pedroza by unanimous decision with scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 99-91 during a bantamweight bout.

Floyd Diaz entered the ring with a Rams helmet and a No. 9 jersey before he delivered a devastating body shot to Blake Quintana to record a fourth-round knockout in their featherweight bout. U.S. Olympic silver medalist Duke Ragan had a unanimous decision victory in his featherweight fight against Diuhl Olguin with identical scores of 60-54.

Luis Alberto Lopez, the No. 1 IBF featherweight contender, had an impressive fourth-round knockout against Raul Chirino to begin the action in Costa Mesa. Lopez followed the victory by calling out IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington.

“This was a win dedicated to my Latino fans,” said Lopez, a native of Mexicali, Mexico. “Next, I want the IBF world title shot. It’s that simple. Josh Warrington has the belt and I’m coming for it.”