BoztheMadman Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Not to be confused with Morocho Hernandez, old Venezuelan light welterweight champ. The only man to ever knock down Floyd Mayweather junior, Carlos Hernandez was also in fact a world champion for a while and held the IBF super featherweight title from February 2003 to July 2004. He was a technical fighter who had some pop but was never a true puncher but like most Latin boxers was aggressive come forward fighter and tough-he was never stopped in his 8 losses. Born Carlos Alberto Hernandez on 23 January 1971 in Los Angeles, his family hails from El Salvador and he is one of very few famous Salvadoran-American boxers. In his pro career, he was trained by legends Amilcar Brusa (who trained Carlos Monzon) and Emanuel Steward. He was managed by his wife Veronica. Known as “El Famoso”, the 5’6 Hernandez started his pro career on his 21st birthday with a draw against Victor Martinez. He then reeled off 21 wins before losing by SD10 to Aaron Zarate on 30 September ‘95. On 13 January ‘97, he beat former WBC featherweight champion Gregorio Goyo Vargas by MD10, which was his first notable victory. On 20 November that year, he got his first world title fight against the WBC champion Genaro Hernandez, one of the best super featherweights of his time. This became a too big task for the 26-yearold, but he went the distance and lost by a clear UD. In 2001, after stopping Sandro Marcos, the only man to knock out Johnny Tapia, by TKO2, he got to fight the new WBC champion, the sensational Floyd Mayweather jr. The fight was held in the champion’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, on 26 May and in the sixth round, El Famoso shocked the world by dropping Mayweather for the first and only time in his career, though not by his own doing. Mayweather had landed a left-right and then went down on his knees and it was officially ruled a knockdown. It was said he experienced a sharp pain in his spine. Even though Mayweather also touched down in his fight versus Zab Judah later on, this is the only officially recognized knockdown of his career. It didn’t help Hernandez as he went on to lose the fight clearly on points but still he wasn’t shut out. He beat Justin Juuko in November that year by UD10, Juuko had also lost to Mayweather previously. His greatest triumph came on 1 February 2003 when he took on David Santos for the vacant IBF title at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. He was ahead on all scorecards going into round 8, when Santos had to quit because of a cut from an accidental headbutt and Hernandez was thus given the victory by a technical decision and became the first world champion of Salvadoran descent! He first stopped Moises Pedroza by TKO2 in a non-title fight and then defended for the first time against former champion Steve Forbes on 4 October. Once again, the fight was stopped due to a headbutt-cut after 10 rounds and El Famoso once again won by a technical decision. His second defense was a great unification fight against Erik Morales on 31 July 2004 at MGM Grand and Morales won by a very uneven decision, two American (corrupt) judges scored it 119-109 while the Japanese judge scored it 115-113, the more precise score. After beating Juan Carlos Ramirez by SD10, he faced Jesus Chavez in an eliminator for the WBC title and dropped a split decision to him 28 May 2005. Later that year, on 8 October, he lost a very controversial split decision in 10 rounds to Bobby Pacquiao. On 28 September 2006 he lost to Kevin Kelley by UD10, which showed he had deteriorated since Kelley was past his prime. His last victory came on 15 August 2008, when he beat Hector Alatorre by SD10. His last fight happened on 4 April next year and he lost to Vicente Escobedo in a tough fight, by UD10. He finally retired at the age of 38 and with a record of 43(24)-8-1. A devoted family man, Hernandez was very proud of his roots and fought in El Salvador a few times. He posted a message on Instagram saying: “I’ve carried El Salvador in my heart since day one. I always knew I was destined to be a champion. I dreamt it, I believed it, I became it”. He always carried the flag of El Salvador to the ring also. Carlos Hernandez was a talented and hardworking fighter and achieved success because of that, but was also unjustly robbed a couple times. Because he wasn’t a big name or a ko artist, he was never the favorite of boxing establishment. And that is how he became a FORGOTTEN CHAMPION! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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