Oscar De La Hoya vs Genaro Hernandez

‘Golden Boy’ Oscar De La Hoya retained his World Boxing Organisation lightweight championship when Genaro Hernandez retired with a broken nose after six rounds at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, on September 9, 1995. The meeting brought together two unbeaten Los Angeles fighters whose rivalry had developed over several years. De La Hoya entered with a record of 18 victories, 16 inside the distance, while Hernandez had won 32 of his 33 contests, with one draw. Hernandez, a former WBA junior-lightweight champion, had relinquished that title and moved up to challenge at 135 pounds. He weighed 133 pounds, two below the limit, while De La Hoya weighed in at 135. An announced crowd of 7,210 watched the contest in the outdoor arena, with Richard Steele acting as referee.

De La Hoya had stopped Rafael Ruelas in two rounds at the same venue four months earlier, but he did not begin this defence with the same immediate aggression. He adopted a lower, more mobile posture, bending at the waist and moving his head as Hernandez attempted to establish his jab and left hook. Hernandez was the busier man in the opening round and received it from judges Jerry Roth and Chuck Giampa, although Mike Glienna preferred De La Hoya. The challenger continued to dictate much of the pace early in the second, but his punches frequently passed over De La Hoya’s shoulders or struck his gloves. De La Hoya was economical, waiting for Hernandez to commit before answering with straighter and more accurate blows.

The champion began to take firmer control during the third round. His movement caused Hernandez to reach with the jab, and De La Hoya stepped into the resulting openings with quick combinations to the head. Hernandez remained composed and kept advancing, but he increasingly had to reset before attacking. De La Hoya’s defence was less upright than in his previous championship appearances; he dipped beneath the challenger’s hooks, turned away from the return and came back with short hooks and uppercuts. Although he later disclosed that he had strained his back before the second round, there was little outward indication that the injury seriously restricted him.

Thirty seconds into the fourth, De La Hoya drove a right uppercut through Hernandez’s guard and knocked him several steps backwards. There was no knockdown, and Hernandez recovered his position, but the punch marked a clear change in the contest. De La Hoya was now judging the distance and finding the challenger’s head with the sharper work. Hernandez’s height and reach had allowed him to control the opening exchanges, but he could not land sufficiently cleanly to discourage the champion. De La Hoya remained difficult to hit and was able to move inside, deliver two or three punches, and leave before Hernandez could reply.

Hernandez made a better showing in the fifth and won the round on Giampa’s card, although Roth and Glienna again scored it for De La Hoya. The challenger continued to press and tried to bring his left hook into use, but De La Hoya’s quicker hands and upper-body movement remained the decisive factors. Hernandez was not overwhelmed by a continuous assault; rather, he was being beaten in a measured contest in which the champion landed the more telling punches while taking few clean blows in return. De La Hoya’s accuracy was steadily wearing down a man who had previously gone unbeaten through 33 professional contests.

The injury which ended the fight occurred during the first minute of the sixth round. De La Hoya completed a three-punch attack with a right followed by a left hook driven directly into Hernandez’s nose. The challenger’s nose had already been damaged during sparring with Shane Mosley several weeks earlier, and the new blows produced a severe fracture. Blood began running from his nostrils and was forced from his mouth as he attempted to breathe. De La Hoya continued to strike the damaged area whenever Hernandez came within range. The challenger remained on his feet and completed the round, but his breathing became laboured enough to be heard at ringside. He returned to his corner bleeding and in considerable pain.

After speaking first with his brother and trainer, Rudy Hernandez, the challenger approached Steele and indicated he would not continue. Steele terminated the contest at 3 minutes of the sixth round, the official result being a retirement rather than a stoppage imposed while the men were in action. Sections of the crowd booed the abrupt conclusion, but Hernandez said afterwards that every further punch to the nose had caused severe pain and that continuing would only have worsened the damage. His physician described the fracture as extensive, and Hernandez was taken to hospital for examination. De La Hoya was also examined there because of the back injury he had suffered early in the fight.

At the finish, De La Hoya led on all three official cards. Roth and Glienna each led 59–55, while Giampa scored the six rounds 58–56. Roth awarded Hernandez only the first round; Giampa gave him the first and fifth; Glienna gave him the third. There had been no knockdowns and no significant fouls. The result raised De La Hoya’s record to 19–0 with 17 victories inside the distance and completed his fifth defence of the WBO lightweight title. Hernandez suffered the first defeat of his career, not through a failure of skill or preparation, but because an existing injury had been broken open beyond the point at which he believed it sensible to proceed. De La Hoya’s victory was less spectacular than his swift defeat of Ruelas, but it demonstrated that he could control an accomplished opponent through movement, defence and selective punching before his power brought the contest to its conclusion.

De La Hoya had just demolished Rafael Ruelas, so people expected another quick finish, but Hernandez was an accomplished former world champion: unbeaten, clever and technically sound. He made Oscar think early, using his jab and controlling the pace, but once De La Hoya settled, the difference in speed and physical strength became clear.

What impressed me was Oscar’s defence. He slipped underneath Hernandez’s shots, came back with short uppercuts and hooks, then moved before the reply. That was intelligent boxing, not merely youthful firepower. By the fourth, Hernandez was being timed; by the sixth, a right-left combination broke his nose, which had already been damaged in sparring.

Some criticised Hernandez for retiring, but I won’t. A badly broken nose leaves you unable to breathe, and he was losing clearly on the cards. Staying there to absorb punishment proves nothing. De La Hoya was simply the better man that night and showed he was far more than a marketable face.