Best I faced: Carlos Hernandez

Teak-tough Carlos Hernandez grew up on the mean streets in South Central, Los Angeles. He came from nothing to become a junior lightweight titleholder in the early 2000s.

Hernandez, who was the oldest of three brothers, was born in Pico Union, Los Angeles on January 23, 1971. His parents were Salvadorian immigrants. His father was a janitor, while his mother was an accountant.

“[I was] always in trouble, fighting on the street against other kids – being a menace,” Hernandez told The Ring. “It was a dangerous place, there was a lot of gangs around there and weird people. It was crazy.”

Hernandez’s father knew he needed to do something to keep his son away from trouble, when he was around 15-years-old, he took him to the neighborhood gym.

“[My father] read it was $10 a month, he said, ‘I’m going to put you here, I want you to lose weight and stay off the street,’” he recalled. “He took me and a couple of guys from the neighborhood, who were gang members.

“When I get to the gym, the guy goes, ‘You guys want to do boxing? Let’s see what you have.’ He put the gloves on me and my buddy but my friend was considered a hard guy. I was kind of nervous and I beat him up in the ring. They were like, ‘Carlos is pretty good.’ I had a little bit of respect. I liked that and I stayed with it.”

Although Hernandez wasn’t a noted amateur going 17-7, he was tenacious and determined.

“The experience I got was mainly sparring world champions as a teenager,” he said. “I was sparring Roger Mayweather when he fought Julio Cesar Chavez. I was 17, 18-years-old. I sparred many world champions, Tony Lopez, ‘Maromero’ Paez, ‘Bazooka’ Limon, Juan ‘Kid’ Meza, Hector Camacho. I didn’t have much experience in the amateurs but the sparring is what really helped me. These guys didn’t take it easy on me.”

The youngster made his professional bow, making a purse of around $260, against fellow debutant Victor Martinez at the Marriott Hotel, Irvine, California in January 1992. However, the fight didn’t go as planned and Hernandez, who was on the track team at college, had to settle for a draw.

“I trained for a few weeks and fought,” he said. “I thought I was going to win because I was in really good shape but I got nervous and I threw everything I had the first two rounds and the last two rounds I was dead tired. From that day forward I dedicated myself 100 percent to boxing.”

Carlos Hernandez (right) and his family

Hernandez went on to reel off 20 victories before overconfidence became his downfall against tough Mexican fighter Aaron Zarate in Lake Tahoe in September 1995.

“I thought I was going to walk through the guy,” he admitted. “He was lanky and tall and I really loved those guys because I was going to be able to go to the body.

“He threw me off because he was strong but I still had my opportunities. I thought I was about to knock him out in the last round and thought I had pulled off a draw but at the end I had my first loss. It was devastating to me because I felt I let myself down, I let my country down. That was something I had to learn and had to adjust and comeback stronger in my next fight.”

‘Famoso’ won his next four, including a win over former featherweight titlist Goyo Vargas (MD 10), before he received a WBC world title shot against his friend Genaro Hernandez at the Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles in November 1997.

“Genaro was my mentor for many years,” he said. “Before he passed he sent me a text to thank me for not just being a sparring partner but a friend. We were like family, we would go to functions, him and his wife and me and my wife at that time. We’d have fun together. We’d go play soccer, jet ski and barbeque together, we were like family.

“When I hooked up with the people I was with, I agreed, Genaro agreed, we spoke and he said, ‘If I’ve got to lose my title to anyone, I’d rather lose it to you.’ He was a gentleman, very classy. At the end of the day, deep down, I wish we never fought. I just felt it wasn’t my night. It hurt losing to Genaro but he was one of the best 130-pound champions, ever. I learned a lot from him. We made it into a war, it was a great fight for the fans.”

The defeat heralded a new dawn in Hernandez career. Incredibly, he received a purse of just $20,000 for the world title loss of which he took home $9,000.

“That’s when my wife, who’s a psychologist and an educated woman, became my manager,” he explained. “From there on my career took off. She said, ‘This ends here.’ Went to arbitration and we weren’t with them.

Five months later, Hernandez returned in his ancestral home of El Salvador against journeyman Roberto Avila.

“Now that was like a championship fight,” he proclaimed. “I go back to my country and the fight with Genaro was televised, they received me with open arms like I won the fight. They saw that I was always attacking, going forward. El Salvador doesn’t know much about boxing but they know about a guy looking for a fight, wanting to win. So, I was treated as a hero, coming back to El Salvador and fighting there was my highest payday ever.

“My wife brokered the deal with the television and the guy who was the music promoter, he’s the one who takes the biggest stars to El Salvador to sing and he promoted my fight there. It was spectacular, I had like 16,000 people in a 12,000 capacity arena. I was overwhelmed with the noise. I was like, ‘This is amazing.’ So much love, it was great.”

Carlos Hernandez (left) and Genaro “Chicanito” Hernandez (right)

Over the next three years, Hernandez notched eight wins and was rewarded with a second world title shot against burgeoning superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the precociously talented American’s hometown of Grand Rapid, Michigan.

“The people there before the fight were great, they booed during the fight. I made a lot of friends there,” said Hernandez, who scored the first knockdown of Mayweather’s career, though would lose a wide 12-round unanimous decision. “If you watch the interview with Larry Merchant, he says to Floyd, ‘You have hand problems?’ And says he had his hands injected before the fight. When that came out we wanted to protest because it’s illegal in Nevada but it’s not illegal in Michigan.

“It was good for me to fight a fighter like Floyd, he was a talent back then, he’s always been a talent and he’s still a talent to this day!”

Again, Hernandez resurfaced in El Salvador. The country had endured an earthquake and landslide which saw nearly 1000 people lose their lives, many more hurt and houses demolished. Then just days before the event 9/11 happened.

“Everyone was thinking we’re going to cancel this, we don’t know how the world is but then we thought, ‘People have already bought their tickets, there’s a buzz around the country. El Salvador has suffered. Let’s do it for El Salvador,”‘ he said. “A lot of the proceeds were going to the families of those who were killed.

“We went with the fight. It was a great feeling from the people. The President and their cabinet was there. That’s a lot of pressure. I tried to use that pressure and put it on my opponent to win the fight and that’s what I did.”

After three more wins, Hernandez was matched with David Santos for the vacant IBF 130-pound title because former titlist Steve Forbes had missed weight. The two met to fill the vacancy on the undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez-Manuel Medina in February 2001.

“I had the president of my country, Alexis Arguello, Roberto Duran, fellow Central Americans with me,” he said. “I had busloads of people, who rode to Las Vegas to witness my coronation as a champion – I wasn’t going to be denied.

“He came in with his head, he got cut, it was a cut where I felt he could have kept going. They decided to go to the scorecards. I felt I was winning the fight but you never know in boxing. I felt like I was connecting with more of the heavier shots, I was busier. Thankfully I won [an eighth round technical decision.]

“I didn’t sleep that night. Bob Arum gives me the high roller suite at the Mandalay Bay as a gift. It’s like an apartment. The president of my country goes to my suite. I’m just hob-knobbing with politicians, with the secret service, Univision, Telemundo. I made history for my country. It was a celebration with my family, my loved one’s. Now my wife owed me a son. She told me, ‘If you win the title, I’ll give you a son.’ And that’s exactly what happened.”

Hernandez won a non-title fight and then beat former titlist Forbes (TD 10) in his first defense. He was presented with the opportunity to face three-division titleholder Erik Morales in a unification match up in July 2004.

“I felt like I dwindled a few years before that and lost a lot of years with the arbitration and had to take advantage of what years I had left,” said Hernandez, who lost a 12-round unanimous decision. “Go for the great fight. I was told, ‘Why are you doing that? You should make more money defending your title.’ I said, ‘I want to fight the best guy which was Erik Morales.’ I was just an inside fighter, I wanted that Barrera-Morales type fight and he didn’t give it to me.”

That wasn’t the end of Hernandez, who fought on for a few more years, losing a couple of questionable decisions against former titleholder Jesus Chavez (SD 12) and Manny Pacquaio’s brother, Bobby (SD 10). He fought and lost to Vicente Escobedo (UD 10) in April 2009.

“I knew this was my farewell fight, I was dropped in the first two rounds which never happened before,” he said. “I sparred the guy a few years before and I spanked him in the gym but when it came to professional fighting with smaller gloves, it was a different story. Father time caught up to me. I was feeling aches in my body and that’s when I knew it was time, I don’t want to be get hurt, I want to be around for my kids.

“I did face the best, maybe I didn’t come out on top against the big names but they didn’t stop me, I was there and I think I speak fairly good for having 52 fights.”

Hernandez, now 53, has two children and lives in the San Antonio, Texas. He is also partners in a Real Estate business called “Famoso Realty.”

He graciously took time to speak to The Ring about the best he fought in 10 key categories.

BEST JAB  

Erik Morales: “He kept the range and that’s how basically he won the fight using his jab and technical skills. I was just an inside fighter, I wanted that Barrera-Morales type fight and he didn’t give it to me. He was smart enough to use that distance, use that jab and win the fight.”

BEST DEFENSE  

Floyd Mayweather Jr.: “Floyd Mayweather was untouchable, although I was ranked No. 4 best fighter to ever land most shots on him. That’s pretty cool but it’s still hard to catch him with a nice shot because he’s so slick.”

BEST HANDSPEED

Mayweather: “It was on point, you wouldn’t see it coming. I really worked on my head movement for that fight but still he was sharp, he was fast.”

BEST FOOTWORK

Genaro Hernandez: “Genaro Hernandez was very smooth, very sharp with his feet, he was able to be in and out. Also Mayweather, his footwork was great with other fighters but with me because of the knockdown and hurt hand, he became went more into survival mode, it was a lot more using the ring, he had really good footwork to keep me away but Genaro naturally had really good footwork, him being tall, lanky fighter his footwork was unmatchable. I would say Genaro because he wasn’t in survival mode and Mayweather was, so I think Genaro had better footwork.”

SMARTEST  

Mayweather: “The guy was just a genius in the ring, he knew how to be smart. He had to adjust from being dominant in the first few rounds to now being survival mode where he had to not be in the line of fire and get away, use his footwork but also use that one hand that works as a jab to keep me at bay. That was smart, not all fighters adapt because their heart tells them to but not because they’re smart, they fall into that but he was smart enough to adjust and adapt.”

STRONGEST

Aaron Zarate: “That would be my first loss against Aaron Zarate, he was trained by the great Nacho Beristain and that guy was physically strong. He was on me, he was manhandling me, where I thought I was the stronger one. I couldn’t match his strength, his man strength, throwing me around. That threw me off.”

BEST PUNCHER

Douglas Villarreal: “I knew the guy was a solid fighter and he hits me on the top of the head, all I remember seeing was a white flash. We worked a lot on if I were to get hurt how to adjust and how to disguise and fight through that and I was able to do that. He didn’t know I was hurt. I wasn’t staggering or anything but I couldn’t see. I had to get close and feel his body and when I was able to recover a few seconds later I was able to compose myself and then I was able to take a step back, land a right uppercut, he went down and that was it. I didn’t feel Morales punching power, I didn’t respect that power. He didn’t have that power I thought he could have had. Maybe because I had him always going back and he didn’t have that leverage to connect that power shot. He was just busy with his jab and that’s how he was able to beat me.”

BEST CHIN

Juan Angel Macias: “The guy was a strong guy, who could take my punches and I couldn’t believe it. I would throw some solid right hands and the guy was taking them and kept coming. I had to adjust and go to the body and that’s how I was able to take him out. Goyo Vargas had a chin but [Macias] I felt like I was throwing my hardest. Goyo Vargas was a world class fighter so it was kind of hard to get a great solid shot. With Macias he was an average guy and he was taking all my shots. I could land at will and he could take my shots. That’s why I would say Macias had the toughest chin that I can remember.”

BEST BOXING SKILLS

Mayweather: “The guys just a great boxer, the skills are unmatched. He was amazing. He was on another level. He was very smooth. It was an art form from Floyd and I was just fortunate that I was able to fight a guy like that and give him my best.”

BEST OVERALL

Mayweather: “Just his demeanor in the ring, his knowledge in the ring. Everything about him is amazing, you have to take your hat off to the guy. The guy is a natural, it’s not like he struggles in there, he makes it look easy and although I made it kinda hard for him, he had to work for his win against me. I fought other great fighters like Erik Morales, Genaro, Goyo Vargas, Stevie Forbes but these guy weren’t still what Floyd was. He was fast, he was able to move quick, the shoulder roll, he had it down. People try to emulate that and it just doesn’t come out the way they wish it would.”

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected].

Follow @AnsonWainwright