Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Carlos Hernández was a professional boxing match contested on May 26, 2001, for the WBC super featherweight title.
Fight Details Entering the fight with what he called "two messed up hands", Mayweather nonetheless overcame his injuries to win a lopsided unanimous decision. Though overmatched, Hernández proved to be a game opponent for Mayweather. Pressing forward throughout the fight, Hernández threw over 100 punches more than Mayweather, but Mayweather's defense held him to landing just 172 of the 676 punches he threw for a 25% success rate while Mayweather landed at a much higher rate, scoring 241 of 520 punches, Mayweather was effective with the jab, which, due to his injured hands, he threw from both his natural orthodox stance and the southpaw stance, landing 63 compared to Hernández, who only managed to land 7. The most memorable moment of the fight came in the sixth round. After landing a left hook to the head of Hernández with around 20 seconds left in the round, Mayweather bent over in pain and touched the canvas with his left hand, causing referee Dale Grable to rule it a knockdown and give Mayweather a standing eight-count. This knockdown would be the only one Mayweather would suffer in his professional career. Following the injury to the sixth, Mayweather switched between orthodox and southpaw and peppered Hernández with jabs and combinations through the final round. All three judges scored the fight overwhelmingly in Mayweather's favor; 119–109, 117–109 and 116–111.Mayweather Wins Decision, LA Times article, 2001-05-27 Retrieved on 2025-02-13
Aftermath Mayweather called the fight "one of the toughest nights of my career" and praised Hernández as a "very, very tough fighter" though he admitted to be "disappointed" in his performance which blamed on the injuries to both hands. Hernández, however, was unimpressed by Mayweather's performance, complaining that all Mayweather did was "pepper me with jabs" and "just kept running from me."Mayweather Wins With Hands Hurt, NY Times article, 2001-05-28 Retrieved on 2025-02-13
Fight card Confirmed bouts: Weight Class Weight vs. Method Round NotesSuper Featherweight130 lbs.Floyd Mayweather Jr. (c)def.Carlos Hernández UD12/12Super Featherweight130 lbs.Jesús Chávez (c)def.Juan José AriasUD12/12Middleweight160 lbs.Ian Gardnerdef.Troy RowlandSD4/4Super Featherweight130 lbs.Steve Trumbledef.Raymundo BeltranMD4/4Super Middleweight164 lbs.Verdell Smithvs.Dexter WilliamsD4/4Super Lightweight140 lbs.Cristián Bejaranodef.Chris BurfordTKO1/4
Broadcasting Country Broadcaster HBO
References