Junior middleweight Francisco Veron tore up the script on Vladimir Hernandez’s Cinderella story.
Veron won a 10-round unanimous decision over local favorite Vladimir Hernandez on Saturday at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, by scores of 98-92, 98-92 and 99-91.
Hernandez – a Stockton, California, resident originally from Ciudad Lerdo, Durango, Mexico – was rocked by Veron with a right hand early to start the fight as the 36-year-old Hernandez found himself in the corner. By the end of the first round, Hernandez was pressing Veron, 26, backward.
Hernandez appeared to wake up after getting caught clean in the opening round. Veron, a 2020 Olympian from Buenos Aires, Argentina, had no room to breathe in the ring, as Hernandez relentlessly stalked him. Blood began to flow from the right cheek of Veron as Hernandez began to hammer on the cut, which had been caused by a headbutt. At the end of the third round, another right hand from Veron rocked Hernandez.
The fourth was a critical round. Veron caught a second wind, landing clean shots, and Hernandez targeted Veron’s body effectively while taking shots in the process. In the sixth round, the pace slowed, but Hernandez’s forward pressure didn’t; he continued to press forward. Veron changed the fight in the seventh, and had his best round in Round 8 as he boxed patiently while Hernandez sought to come forward and land a big punch. Veron continued to fight behind a jab while Hernandez pressed forward in the ninth. Hernandez’s shots weren’t as effective. The two threw wild punches to the final bell, a fitting end to a fight in which both fighters left it all in the ring.
Veron is now 15-1-1 (10 KOs), and returns to the win column after suffering his first career loss in August, to Brandon Adams. Hernandez, 17-7 (7 KOs), had ambitions of turning his three-fight win streak into a title shot, which are at least on hold for now. His defeat was a bittersweet one, as Hernandez entered the bout ranked No. 15 by the WBC.
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
