I agree that the focus would be better if it were on the eyes.
You might consider cropping this more also.
I wonder if it would work cropping just under his right eye, and above his eyebrows.
This would remove all of the distracting stuff in the front and the rather uninteresting hair and forehead.
I'm not sure it would work, but might be worth a try.
I took the liberty of playing with the idea of cropping the image. Please let me know if you do not like me re-posting an edit of your original and I will remove it.
I like this image. He is a cutie with great eyes!
Of the two versions, I prefer the first. But I still think its worth exploring alternate crops.
What about cropping from the left? I'd crop to roughly the top of his head, where the hair falls vertically along the bottom of the image, and horizontally above it.
Scott