RIP Genaro Hernadez

Former world champion Genaro Hernandez passed away today in California at the age of forty-five after a battle of cancer in Mission Veijo, California according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

“I think that the best fight he had was when he went to France and won the world title,” Rudy Hernandez, Genaro’s brother, said a few hours after Hernandez’s death. “He was looking to land and it was just a matter of time until he would catch him and knock him out. I was his brother, his trainer, his adviser, his manager, his friend.”

Hernandez (38-2-1, 17 KOs) defended the title eight times — including five times at the Great Western Forum — but then got the shot he had always wanted, a showdown against East Los Angeles rival Oscar De La Hoya. Hernandez moved up in weight and challenged De La Hoya for his lightweight belt outdoors at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in 1995.

“He was a lovely man, and he was really a credit to the sport of boxing,” said Top Rank’s Bob Arum, who promoted the Nelson fight and many of Hernandez’s late-career bouts, and also quietly covered many of Hernandez’s medical expenses during his battle against cancer.

“I remember one instance (the Nelson fight) where he was fouled, and he knew he could win if he stayed down,” Arum said. “He insisted on continuing. He didn’t want to win the fight that way. He was a brave guy, a great guy.”

“As a commentator, he was everything you could ask for,” Arum said. “He had such a good understanding of what was going on inside the ring. He was just a great person. Eventually the cancer got him, but he did really well in his fight against cancer. He lasted for a long time and did everything he could to beat cancer. He showed a lot of heart.”

“We last worked together last December doing (Soto-Antillon), and he was still exhilarated by what he was watching,” said broadcaster Rich Marotta, who called many of Hernandez’s fights before partnering with him when he became a television analyst after he retired from the ring. “We will all miss him very much.”

“I had the good fortune to call many of Genaro’s fights, from early in his career when he was appearing in prelims at the Irvine Ballroom to his days as a world champion at the Forum to his biggest fight against Oscar De La Hoya at Caesars,” Marotta said. “He was the same guy through all of that, friendly, accessible to all and simply one of the finest athletes I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with. He was still the same guy, with the same accommodating demeanor, in the years following his boxing career as a ringside commentator.”

“He pretty much ended up playing it safe sometimes. He wanted to demonstrate his skills,” Rudy Hernandez said. “He fought as hard as he had to. He made things look a lot easier than they were. But he was a very, very dedicated fighter. Never once did he ever go into a fight not being 100 percent in shape. He was so dedicated, even when he wasn’t fighting or scheduled to fight, he remained in the gym. He fought Azumah Nelson on a Saturday, and on Tuesday he was back in the gym working out.”

Hernandez is survived by his wife, Liliana; their two children, 19-year-old Amanda and 11-year-old Steven; three brothers; two sisters; and his father, Joe Rudy Hernandez. His mother died in 2004. Rudy Hernandez said funeral arrangements were pending.