Genaro Hernandez

Genaro Hernández was an American professional boxer who had an impressive career from 1984 to 1998. He was a two-time super featherweight world champion, having held the WBA title from 1991 to 1995 and the WBC and lineal titles from 1997 to 1998. He challenged for the WBO lightweight title in 1995 but lost for the first time in his career to Oscar De La Hoya via a sixth-round RTD on September 9, 1995, which ended his 32-fight win streak.

Hernández, also known as Chicanito, was born on May 10, 1966, in Los Angeles, California. He was of Mexican-American heritage, and his love for boxing started at a young age. His professional debut as a paid fighter came on September 27, 1984, when he beat Dino Ramirez by a decision in four rounds at Inglewood.

He had an impressive start to his career, winning his first 26 fights, including 13 via stoppage. His first world title fight was against Daniel Londas for the super-featherweight WBA (vacant) title on November 22, 1991, after 23 professional fights. Hernandez defeated Londas via a 9th round TKO to become the super-featherweight champion of the world.

Over the course of his career, Hernández fought a total of 41 times, with 38 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw, and 0 no-contests. He won 17 of these fights via knockout and had two losses via knockout.

Hernández won two world titles at super-featherweight, successfully defending his crown ten times, including an impressive victory over Hall-of-Famer Azumah Nelson. He also won notable victories over Raúl Pérez, Javier Pichardo, Yuji Watanabe, Jorge Ramirez, Jimmy Garcia, and Jorge Páez.

After eight successful title defenses, Hernández vacated his WBA super featherweight title in order to face Oscar De La Hoya, who was the WBO lightweight champion at the time. On September 9, 1995, Hernández fought De La Hoya and lost for the first time in his career. He retired from the fight at the end of the sixth round with a bloody nose. Up until the fight's end, the judges had De La Hoya holding a lead on all three scorecards.

Hernández rebounded from his loss and continued to fight, winning important bouts against Jorge Páez, Harold Warren, Carlos Gerena, and Carlos Famoso Hernandez. He won the WBC and lineal super featherweight titles in 1997 after beating Azumah Nelson in a title bout for the WBC & Lineal super featherweight titles in Corpus Christi, Texas. He won the Super featherweight titles by defeating Nelson with a split decision victory.

Hernández went on to defend his crown against the likes of future super featherweight champion Anatoly Alexandrov, Carlos Gerena, and Carlos Hernandez, a gym-mate and personal friend who would later become El Salvador's first world boxing champion in history.

In what would turn out to be his last fight, on October 3 of 1998, he lost his titles to Floyd Mayweather Jr. by an 8th round retirement. Hernández was diagnosed with a blood clot and a torn cartilage muscle after this fight and announced his retirement with a record of 38 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw, with 17 of those wins coming by knockout.

After retiring from boxing, Hernández worked as a boxing instructor at the LA Boxing Gym in Lake Forest, California, until early 2011. He helped out in a broadcast of a boxing match in Maywood after that.

Hernández was diagnosed with stage four rhabdomyosarcoma of the head and neck, a very rare form of cancer, which his insurance would not cover for treatment. He collected several large purses in his career, including $600,000 for his final fight against Mayweather, but he was not able to afford his expensive treatments, which led his benefits to assist in paying for what the insurance would not cover.

Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions, who promoted Hernández, footed Hernández's bills for chemotherapy for a number of years until Hernandez died, also having him brought to and from the chemotherapy sessions. In mid-2009, it was reported that Hernández's cancer was in remission, but by early 2010, the cancer had returned, and he was undergoing treatment.

On June 3, 2011, it was announced that Hernández would stop chemotherapy treatment. Hernández passed away from cancer on June 7, 2011, at the age of 45. He will always be remembered as a great boxer both in and out of the ring.

Genaro Hernández Fight Record