Nico Hernandez

Though not expected to beat Manuel Cappai of Italy, and starting off slowly in the first round—losing on two judges' scorecards—Hernandez found his strength in the second and third round, overwhelming Cappai, and winning.[3][14][18]

In his second fight, low-seeded Hernandez faced Russia's Vasili Egorov, second-seeded, and silver medalist of the last world championship—the defending European champion. Though again starting off slowly, Hernandez surprised his opponent, in the second and third rounds, with fast aggression, moving in close and overpowering Egorov and winning a surprise upset by unanimous decision of the judges.[3][14][19][18][20]

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[3][5]—becoming the first American male boxer to win an Olympic medal since heavyweight boxer Deontay Wilder's 2008 bronze medal win—and the first light flyweight American male boxer to win an Olympic medal since Michael Carbajal (a future International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee) won a silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.[5][14][18][21]

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.[14][3][4][5][6][18]

After applauding his opponent's victory, Hernandez admitted fighting "his fight instead of my own," adding, "I let him come in and make the fight too wild and that's how I lost." With scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 (USA Today reported "29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 for Dusmatov"), the judges unanimously credited the win to Dusmatov.[3][4] Though Hernandez lost the fight on points, he kept an Olympic bronze medal.[6][18]

Despite defeating Hernández for the Olympic silver medal, Dusmatov (who ultimately won the gold medal) described the match as his own most difficult fight of the Olympics, up to that point, describing Hernández as a "champion" who is "really, really strong."[3][6]

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.[5][25][8][11][26][23]

This was the first fight in which Hernandez had ever been scheduled for six rounds, and one of the few experiences he had ever had fighting without protective headgear (which had proven a problem for him at the 2016 Olympics).[5][25][8][11]

Through four rounds, Hernandez exerted full control, attacking aggressively and rapidly. He introduced a surprise move, which he'd never used before: body-punching shots "going up the middle." He also switched briefly to left-handed blows. The fight ended in a technical knockout (TKO) of Gutierrez. Gutierrez, who had fought in heavier divisions, said he'd never before had his "bell rung like that" in any fight.[11][26][23]

Hernandez's second pro fight, on June 17, 2017, in front of 2,000 boxing fans just outside Wichita at Hartman Arena in Park City, was initially broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network (until a storm knocked out communications).[26][12][27][23][24]

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.[26][23][27][24]

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."[12][27][24]

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.[12]