Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
) is a retired
Salvadoran American
Salvadoran Americans ( or ) are Americans of full or partial Salvadoran descent. As of 2010, there are 2,195,477 Salvadoran Americans in the United States, the fourth-largest Hispanic community by nation of ancestry.boxer. He made boxing history by becoming the IBFsuper featherweight champion by beating David Santos. Carlos Hernández counted in that fight with the backing up of
Alexis Argüello
Alexis Argüello (April 19, 1952 – July 1, 2009) was a Nicaraguan professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 1995, and later became a politician. He was a three-weight world champion, having held the WBA featherweight title from 1974 to 19 ...
,
Roberto Durán
Roberto Durán Samaniego (born June 16, 1951) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held world championships in four weight classes: lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight, as w ...
and the Salvadoran President, all of whom were at ringside cheering for him. On October 4, 2003, he retained the title against former IBF
lightweight
Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing.
Boxing
Professional boxing
The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing.
Notable lightweight ...
champion
Steve Forbes
Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Jr. (; born July 18, 1947) is an American publishing executive and politician who is the editor-in-chief of ''Forbes'', a business magazine. He is the son of longtime ''Forbes'' publisher Malcolm Forbes and the grandso ...
, with an eleventh round technical decision.
Hernandez, who moved to the United States in 1991 to reach his goal of becoming a champion, has a record of 43 wins, 8 losses and 1 draw with 24 knockouts. In previous world title tries, he had lost a decision in 12 to Genaro Hernandez and to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Hernandez lost to
Jesús Chávez
Jesús Gabriel Sandoval Chávez (; born November 12, 1972) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2010. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the WBC super featherweight title from 2003 to 2004, and the IBF ...
on May 28, 2005, in a fight that, had he won, would have led him to another world title fight.
On October 8, 2005, he suffered a controversial loss against
Bobby Pacquiao
Alberto "Bobby" Dapidran Pacquiao ( ; born April 23, 1980) is a Filipino former professional boxer and elected public official who competed in boxing from 1997 to 2008. He is the younger brother of Manny Pacquiao.
Boxing career
Pacquiao turned p ...
, the brother of
Manny Pacquiao
Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. (; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician and former professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He served as a Senator of the Phil ...
from the Philippines in a 10-round split decision. Pacquiao managed to drop Hernandez in the 2nd round, but Hernandez fought back consistently starting round 3 to close the fight, or even take the points by 10th. To the eyes of the fans and commentators, it should have gone the other way in favor of Carlos Hernandez, but was still a very close fight to call.
On September 28, 2006, Hernandez announced his retirement after losing by unanimous decision to Kevin Kelley; after an even first 3 rounds, he was knocked down in the 4th round, and unable to regain momentum from then on.
On retirement, Hernandez had this to say: "My time...in this career...if I'm going to get knocked down back-to-back it's time to call it a career. I don't want to get hurt in this business. I have beautiful children....I feel bad that I couldn't win, but you know, I think that everyone who saw me knows I won't get knocked out or I won't go down, I'll keep coming, I'm relentless, I persevere. That's my motto, 'perseverance pays off.' I think I'll just persevere in another career. I don't know what that may be, but I'm going to keep succeeding in life."
In his last bout, Hernandez lost a decision in a brutal war against former Olympian
Vicente Escobedo
Vicente Escobedo (born November 6, 1981) is an American professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2013. As an amateur, he represented his country at the 2003 World Championships and the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Amateur career
As an amateur Es ...