Nico Hernández

Nico Hernández (born January 4, 1996) is an American boxer, from Wichita, Kansas. He is an Olympic medalist and pro boxer, noted for unusually fast and aggressive boxing.

He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he won an Olympic bronze medal for the United States, in the Men's light flyweight division—the United States' first Olympic men's boxing medal since the 2008 Beijing Olympics —capping a 94-5 amateur career (94 wins, 5 losses) with, over six years, six national titles.

Hernandez began his professional boxing career in 2017, starting with back-to-back knockouts in nationally televised bouts.

Early athletic experiences Hernandez's career was chiefly built on his relationship with two colleagues: his father, and his best friend. He was first introduced to boxing at age 9, by his father, Lewis, a truck driver in Wichita, Kansas, who later became Hernandez's coach. The boy took a liking to boxing with his first encounter, then became an energetic young fighter, winning his first 25 fights, and aggressively reaching for tougher, even older and bigger, opponents.

At Wichita North High School, Hernandez also excelled in wrestling, eagerly taking on better and bigger opponents with a ferocity and endurance that shocked them, and his coach. ), along with six consecutive Silver Gloves National Championship wins, and a 2014 National Golden Gloves gold medal.

2016 Rio Olympics Entering Boxing at the 2016 Summer Olympics, 20-year-old Hernandez—a virtual unknown in boxing—weighed in at 108 pounds, entering the Men's light flyweight division. Not expected to win, his unexpected Olympic victories created a stir in the boxing community. His USA Olympic boxing coach was Billy Walsh (though his lifelong boxing coach had been his own father, Lewis Hernandez). Ironically, Walsh had previously coached Brendan Irvine, an Irish boxer who, the year before, had defeated Hernandez in the starting round of a world championship fight in Qatar.

For the first time since 1980, protective headgear would not be worn by Olympic boxers during their matches. This would become a problem for Hernandez in his final fight.

Third fight In his third fight, this one for the Olympic bronze medal, Hernandez faced Carlos Quipo Pilataxi of Ecuador. Again starting slowly, he came from behind to win, again—ensuring himself an Olympic medal, and startling the boxing world

Fourth and final fight In his fourth fight—the semi-finals, for the Olympic silver medal—Hernandez fought the Asian champion, Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan. Hernandez again started slowly, but this time could not make the come-from-behind win. One reporter suggested he had trouble figuring out Dusmatov's odd, left-handed style. The smaller and quicker Dusmatov was the aggressive leader in the first round. An accidental head-butt gashed Hernandez, leading to a bloody face and briefly blurred vision; a doctor cleaned him up between rounds 2 and 3, but he did not rebound fully. In the third and final round, the referee interrupted the fight to have a doctor attend the cut. For the rest of the fight, Dusmatov mostly avoided Hernandez, backing away and keeping out of his way. Hernández, by his own admission, "waited too long" for things to change. Though two judges' scorecards gave the third round to Hernandez, Dusmatov won the match.

Hernandez also reportedly "really connects" with local kids and speaks often at local schools.

Pro career

Shortly after his Olympic victory, USA Today reported that Hernandez planned to turn to professional boxing after the 2016 Olympics.

Hoping to replicate the hometown pro success of Omaha, Nebraska boxer Terence Crawford, a unified junior welterweight champion, Hernandez initially sought to start with an undercard fight at a December 10, 2016 Crawford match in Omaha in a one-time event sponsored by promoter Top Rank. However, the deal fell through.

First pro fight

Hernandez's first professional fight, on March 25, 2017 (in front of 3,100 fans at the Kansas Star Arena of the Kansas Star Casino, near Wichita, and televised nationally by CBS Sports Network), was against Las Vegas novice pro Patrick Gutierrez, a junior bantamweight fighter who had lost his two previous pro matches, and passed up a third "easy fight" to instead challenge Olympic medalist Hernandez, hoping that defeating him would gain him quick elevation to national prominence.

His challenger was Mexico native Jose Rodriguez, 29, a novice flyweight boxer of Markesan, Wisconsin, with a 2-0 pro record (having knocked out his two winless previous challengers). Rodriguez was trained by Angel Manfredy, himself a successful lightweight boxer (43–8–1, 32 KOs) and four-time world title challenger, who'd fought Floyd Mayweather Jr., Diego Corrales and Stevie Johnston.

Rodriguez's pre-match public remarks—claiming Hernandez wouldn't go the distance, and promising to knock him out—reportedly infuriated Hernandez, who committed to "take him out." In the following match, Hernandez did exactly that, quickly, maintaining control of the furious fight with multiple downings of his opponent, ending in a third-round knockout. Ernie Haines, Rodriguez's trainer, summarized, "We ran into a hurricane tonight." Describing Hernandez as "the first person of this caliber" they'd ever encountered, Haines said, "He barbequed us."

CBS Sports Network's color commentator for the fight, Sean Wheelock, said the bout demonstrated that Hernandez, in a fight, "is a phenomenal power puncher," recalling his previous fight showing "he just rips the body." Wheelock summarized the two bouts as showing "an evolution in Nico," projecting it would be "a rapid evolution," with potential power at fighting weights up to 135 pounds.

Professional boxing record

Bare knuckle record Win

Chancy Wilson TKO (referee stoppage) BKFC 13

Salina, Kansas, United States