Nico Hernandez Upsets To Guarantee First Medal In Men’s Boxing For U.S. Since 2008

Team USA light flyweight Nico Hernandez will be fighting for at least a bronze medal in Rio. The 20-year-old native of Wichita, Kansas, tried to make it to the Olympics twice before he qualified for Rio on the third try in March. The fact that he has been on a run since the Games started is nothing short of amazing.

According to the Los Angeles Times in 2014, Hernandez lost his training partner Tony Losey in a workplace accident. Hernandez considered Losey a brother and it was their dream to go to the Olympics together. When he past away Hernandez didn’t think he could compete without him. He quit boxing for a time and then decided to go back to it because no matter where he was Losey was always with him.

Hernandez takes his corner in the ring and prays before each fight and he knows Losey is with him, he said.

He beat Italy’s Manuel Cappai, No. 2 seeded Russian Vasily Egorov, and Ecuador’s Carlos Quipo in his quest for a medal. According to the Los Angeles Times Hernandez’s coach Billy Walsh said he has made great improvements since last October. His timing couldn’t be better.

“I’m not going to focus on the bronze medal. I came here to get a gold medal, and I won’t be satisfied until I get the gold,” Hernandez said.

In his first round against Quipo he lost on two of three judges scorecards. He won the second round on two of three and won a unanimous decision to advance him to the semifinals where he will take on Uzbekistan’s Hasanboy Dusmatov. Dustmatov is three years older than Hernandez and has two gold medals from the Asian Championships and Summer Universiade.

The U.S. hasn’t medalled in men’s flyweight boxing since 1988 when Michael Carbajal won silver. Carbajal was nicknamed ‘Little Hands Of Stone’ after his favorite boxer Roberto Durán whose nickname was ‘Hand Of Stone’. The Panamanian, Durán, held world titles in four different weight classes.