Carlos Hernández (born January 23, 1971, in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
) is a retired
Salvadoran American
Salvadoran Americans ( or ) are Americans of full or partial El Salvador, Salvadoran descent. As of 2021, there are 2,473,947 Salvadoran Americans in the United States, the Hispanic and Latino Americans#National origin, third-largest Hispanic ...
boxer. He made boxing history by becoming the
IBF super featherweight
Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a weight division in professional boxing, contested between and .
The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although first founded by the New ...
champion by beating David Santos. On October 4, 2003, he retained the title against former IBF
lightweight
Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing.
Boxing Professional boxing
The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...
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 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.
Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (né Sinclair; born February 24, 1977) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed between 1996 and 2017. He list of undefeated boxing world champions, retired with an undefeated record a ...
Hernandez lost to
Jesús Chávez 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, the brother of
Manny Pacquiao
Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. ( ; ; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician, businessman, and professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He previously serv ...
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.
See also
* ''
More Than Famous''
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hernández, Carlos
1971 births
American sportspeople of Salvadoran descent
International Boxing Federation champions
Super-featherweight boxers
Boxers from Los Angeles
Living people
American male boxers
20th-century American sportsmen