 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Andres "Puppy" Hernandez (born in 1950) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who once fought Carlos Zarate for the World Boxing Council's world bantamweight title. Earlier in his career, he was known for being able to take many punches. His boxing nickname is "Puppy".
Hernandez made his professional boxing debut on June 22, 1969, when he defeated Willie Pastrana (not to be confused with Willie Pastrano, the former light heavyweight champion) by a four-round decision at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan. In his second fight, Hernandez lost for the first time, to another local prospect, Santos Luis Rivera, by a four-round decision. He avenged that loss in his very next bout, beating Rivera by a six-round decision in San Juan. After defeating Jose Rosado, he and Rivera had a rubber match, and this time Rivera won, again, on points over six rounds.
After a four-round draw (tie) against Tomas Rivera in Ponce, Hernandez reeled off a streak of eleven wins in a row, three by knockout. These included a victory over veteran Jose Luis Cetina (59-18-2 coming into their fight) in what was Hernandez's first fight abroad, held at the International Amphitheater, in Chicago, Illinois, United States, when he beat Cetina with a sixth-round knockout. The streak came to an end when he traveled to Panama to fight world-ranked Gilberto Illueca, and dropped a ten-round unanimous decision.
Hernandez then started another streak of wins, this time reaching eight consecutive victories before facing another up-and-coming Puerto Rican bantamweight, Wilfredo Gómez. The pair met on Saturday, December 20, 1975, at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan as part of a boxing program that included fights of Julian Solís, Larry Holmes and Roberto Durán defending his world Lightweight title in the main event against the Mexican Leoncio Ortiz. Despite the fact that Gomez had fought only 22 rounds in his first eight bouts (he was 7-0-1 with 7 knockout wins) for an average of slightly less than 3 rounds per fight, Hernandez put up serious resistance and went into round eight before Gomez could knock him out.
After the defeat to Gomez, Hernandez won four bouts in a row, including a win over future title challenger Cleo Garcia of Nicaragua. This allowed him to challenge the WBC world champion, Mexican Carlos Zarate. Zarate was another heavy puncher who came into the championship fight, held at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan on April 22, 1978, with a record of 49 wins and no losses, with 48 of those wins by knockout. The bout's referee was Richard Steele. Hernandez gave the champion a serious test, lasting until round 13 when he lost by technical knockout.
Hernandez rebounded by outpointing future world title challenger Enrique Sanchez over ten rounds in Sanchez's home country, the Dominican Republic, but he followed that by losing by six round disqualification to Jose Jimenez, also at the Dominican Republic. He then fought Edwin Rivera (not to be confused with Edwin Luis Rivera. another local featherweight prospect of the time) for the vacant Puerto Rican bantamweight title on September 9, 1979, winning the title by a sixth-round knockout. This was, however, considered a mismatch by island boxing experts since Rivera was only 1-0 coming into that fight, compared to Hernandez's record of 29 wins, 6 losses and 1 draw (Rivera eventually retired with a record of 2 wins, 2 defeats and 1 draw).
On March 29, 1980, Hernandez challenged the future world Bantamweight champion Jeff Chandler for Chandler's NABF and USBA bantamweight titles at Resorts International hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey Despite going the distance with Chandler, Hernandez lost a 12-round points decision in his last fight of major significance. He then went to South Africa to fight Bashew Sibaca at East London, Eastern Cape, but he would lose that bout by ten-round decision, before returning to the Dominican Republic to fight Sanchez in a rematch, this time being knocked out in three rounds.
Hernandez kept fighting, having bouts in Yauco, Puerto Rico and in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, Miami, Florida, Reno, Nevada, and Sacramento, California, where he suffered a first-round knockout at the hands of Henry Rodriguez, on December 18, 1985, after which he retired. He never again sought to fight on as a professional boxer, being able to stay in retirement.
Three of Hernandez's conquerors, Chandler, Gomez and Zarate, are members of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Apart from those three world champions, Hernandez also faced 5 other boxers who participated in world title fights, these being Illueca, Garcia, Sanchez, Sibaca and Fred Jackson.
Hernandez had a record of 31 wins, 13 losses and 3 draws, 12 wins by way of knockout.
Wilfredo Gómez Rivera, sometimes referred to as Bazooka Gómez, is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer and three weight world champion. He is frequently mentioned among the best Puerto Rican boxers of all time by sports journalists and analysts, along with Félix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto, Wilfred Benítez, Esteban De Jesús, Edwin Rosario, and Carlos Ortíz.
Carlos Ortiz was a Puerto Rican professional boxer. He held world titles in lightweight and light welterweight weight divisions. Along with Félix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto, Wilfredo Gómez, Héctor Camacho, José Torres, Edwin Rosario and Wilfred Benítez, Ortiz is considered among the best Puerto Rican boxers of all time by sports journalists and analysts. As of January 2018, Ortiz holds the record for the most wins in unified lightweight title bouts in boxing history at 10.
Jesús Carlos Zárate Serna is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1970 to 1988, and held the WBC bantamweight title from 1976 to 1979.
Esteban de Jesús was a Puerto Rican world lightweight champion boxer. De Jesús, a native of the town of Carolina, Puerto Rico, was a gymmate of Wilfred Benítez and was trained by Benitez's father, Gregorio Benitez. He was the first boxer to defeat Roberto Durán as a pro, and the only fighter to defeat Duran during his lightweight reign. His career was mired in controversy, problems, and scandals.
José Guadalupe Pintor Guzmán, better known as Lupe Pintor, is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1974 to 1995. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC bantamweight title from 1979 to 1983 and the WBC super bantamweight title from 1985 to 1986.
Victor Callejas is a Puerto Rican former boxer who was world Junior Featherweight champion.
Wilfredo Vázquez Olivera is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 2002. He held world championships in three weight classes, including the WBA bantamweight title from 1987 to 1988, the WBA super bantamweight title from 1992 to 1995, and the WBA and lineal featherweight titles from 1996 to 1998. His son, Wilfredo Vázquez Jr., is also a former boxer and world champion.
Julian Solís is a former boxer from Puerto Rico. He was born in the San Juan area of Río Piedras, but because of the closeness of his birthplace to Caguas, he often trained at the Bairoa Gym in Caguas. His training base, however, was the Caimito Gym.
Alexander Sánchez Sepúlveda is a former Puerto Rican professional boxer. He held the WBO minimumweight title from 1993 to 1997.
Juan Meza, also known for his nickname Kid Meza, was a Mexican professional boxer who was world Super Bantamweight champion. Meza was born in Mexicali, Mexico.
José Antonio Rivera was a Puerto Rican boxer. He was much better known as El Gallo Rivera or Tonito Rivera, and was a prominent boxer during the decade of the 1980s.
Emmanuel Rodríguez Vázquez is a Puerto Rican professional boxer who has held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) bantamweight title twice between 2018 and 2024. As an amateur he represented Puerto Rico at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics and won a gold medal in the flyweight event. As of July 2020, he is ranked as the world's best active bantamweight by TBRB, and second by The Ring, forth by BoxRec, and
Enrique "Kiko" Solis is a former boxer from Puerto Rico, who in 1978 challenged Eusebio Pedroza of Panama for Pedroza's WBA's recognized world Featherweight championship. Solis is a member of a prolific Puerto Rican boxing family, his brothers being former WBA and Ring Magazine world Bantamweight champion Julian Solís, former WBC world Junior Lightweight title challenger Rafael Solis and Santos Solis, who once fought Wilfred Benítez as a professional and went ten rounds with him. He is from Caimito, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.
Jorge Luján is a Panamanian who was a professional boxer and fought many top-flight boxers and several champions during the 1970s and 1980s. Luján is the former Lineal and WBA Bantamweight world champion. He was managed by Aurelio Cortez.
Josue Marquez Acevedo was a Puerto Rican who was once a world title challenging boxer. Not known for his punching power,, Marquez nevertheless gave many of the top boxers of his era trouble and managed to defeat a number of them.
Rafael del Valle is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who reigned, from May 13, 1992, to July 30, 1994, as the WBO's World Bantamweight champion. A puncher with a sturdy chin, del Valle was born and resides at Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Wilfredo Rivera is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who fought three times for world titles, losing to Pernell Whitaker twice and to Oscar De La Hoya.
Wilfredo Gómez vs. Carlos Zárate was a professional boxing match contested between WBC super bantamweight champion Wilfredo Gómez and WBC bantamweight champion Carlos Zárate, with Gómez' super bantamweight title on the line. The bout took place on October 28, 1978, at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Gómez retained his title via fifth-round technical knockout (TKO). Many experts credit this fight as the beginning of the Mexico–Puerto Rico boxing rivalry.
Ramon Antonio Nery is a Dominican former professional boxer, who was once ranked in the top ten in the world among Flyweight boxers by the World Boxing Association, and who once fought for the WBA's world Flyweight championship. At a regional level, Nery was the Dominican Republic's national Flyweight champion. Nery was born with deafness, and his boxing nickname was "sordito", which means "(little) deaf (person)" in Spanish. Nery's condition meant he had to have special lights installed on the ring's corners when he fought; that way he could tell when a round began or finished.
The history of the sport of boxing in Puerto Rico is a varied and extensive one. Boxing is a major sport in the Caribbean country, and the sport has produced many champions for the island, both in the amateur and professional ranks, and among men and women fighters.
