“I LIKED to fight. I like to say I was a street fighter. I was more of a deviant kind of kid. I was not a good person, but I wasn’t evil either.”
Carlos ‘El Famoso’ Hernandez wasn’t a street urchin, but he certainly honed his skills on the street.
Little did he know his fists would be his legacy and one of his claims to fame is being the first – and only – man to send Floyd Mayweather Jr to the canvas.
Former IBF super-featherweight champion Hernandez, now 53, recalls the moment he had Mayweather in trouble: “Thank you, God. I’ve got a wounded deer, I need to seize this moment.
“At the time, knocking Floyd down was an incredible moment. I remember going to the neutral corner during the standing eight count and my corner, especially Manny Robles, was yelling, ‘Go, go, you got him!’ They wanted me to press the action. So, I went after him like a bull, determined to finish what I started. But then the bell rang and I thought, ‘I’ll get him in the next round.’”
When the fight resumed, Mayweather was in survival mode. Unfortunately for Hernandez, fighting one of the best defensive fighters in recent decades, with an impeccable recovery rate, didn’t bode well.
“I did everything I could to apply pressure and nullify him, but as the rounds went on, he kept peppering me with shots and used his movement to edge out the victory,” he says.
“Even though he won, I was proud of my performance.
“My team was thrilled – we went into his house, his arena, and fought in front of his people, who booed me throughout the fight. But it was like a scene out of Rocky IV, when Rocky fights in Russia and the crowd starts to shift. At first, they were booing me, but as the fight went on, they began cheering ‘Famoso, Famoso,’ and the applause for Floyd started to diminish. That was music to my ears.
“Looking back, I’m incredibly proud of what I accomplished that night. To be the only one to officially score a knockdown against Floyd is a significant achievement and it’s something I’ll carry with me forever.”
On May 26, 2001, Mayweather Jr was at the peak of his powers. Boasting a record of 25-0 and coming off a victory over Diego Corrales, he had been punch-perfect through his career to that point.
Hernandez had already lost a world title fight before facing ‘Pretty Boy’, and seemingly posed no real threat to Mayweather heading into the bout.
However, the West Coast resident had other ideas. His confidence was sky-high after world-class sparring, and being an insider in a Mayweather camp, and he was expecting to be victorious.
“I was so positive, so sure that I was going to beat him,” he says.
“I believed that I was going to beat this guy Floyd Mayweather, just because I’d been in the ring for many years with Shane Mosley and I wouldn’t say I was putting my hands on him, but I would do very well with Shane. And Shane is a quick guy; strong guy. And so, I believed that I was going to win against Floyd Mayweather because I didn’t believe Floyd Mayweather was at that level.
“He just beat Corrales, but I didn’t think Floyd was at the level of Shane Mosley. And so, when I would spar him, Mosley, I’m telling you, I said, ‘OK, this guy, this guy’s not as good as Shane,’ but now getting in the ring with him, it’s another story. And let me tell you that I was Roger Mayweather’s sparring partner when he fought Julio Cesar Chavez that second time. So, I felt fairly confident he’s going to get on the ropes, he’s going to lay it down, he’s going to be using that shoulder roll like Roger.
“But here with Floyd is a different story. Floyd is just at another level. He’s quick, he’s sharp, he perfected a craft and it’s not easy finding a guy who does this a lot and doesn’t give you that space. And then if you wait too long, he’s going to pop you with a nice good shot. And he’s not like a guy like Shane that throws combinations, pop, pop – he throws one, two, one, two, three. That’s it. That’s all he does. But he does it to a tee. He’s perfected his craft and, yeah, he’s the greatest. At least in our era, that guy’s the greatest.”
Hernandez carried the weight of the expectations of a country upon his shoulders as El Salvador was in dire need of a hero.
After losing two world title challenges, the Salvadoran-American felt embarrassed, but, boy, was he mistaken.
“I lost to the greatest ever, which is Floyd Mayweather, and El Salvador saw me as a winner,” he says of the land of his heritage.
“They saw me going for it, taking it to him instead of running around, and they loved me for that. And it was a lot of respect that I won.”
Hernandez did win the world title which had evaded him for so long when he defeated the ‘Diamond’, David Santos, in February 2003, for the vacant IBF 130lbs title.
It was a fight that brought the whole of El Salvador to a standstill as they watched their idol achieve his dreams.
“Every night people were dying and at that time, when my fight came on, it was the night with the lowest homicide rate, because everyone was watching the fight,” he says.
“And that just made me proud, and I guess you could say it is something that I did. I could tell my kids I changed something. At least people didn’t kill themselves that night. They were watching my fight. So, it’s beautiful, man. It’s beautiful.
“I’m the only one that’s ever won a world title for my country. There were a lot of accolades after that. They named a sports arena after me; parks, streets, buildings. It feels good, it feels beautiful to have my children see what the country of El Salvador has done for me.”
Hernandez gained El Salvador’s respect from valiant, yet failed attempts. However, when he reached the pinnacle of his career, he had his country in jubilation.
“This wasn’t just a victory for a guy who wanted to win a world title – I had eight million people that were supporting, that I was fighting for, the country El Salvador, and I had the president of the country there being at the fight in Vegas,” he says.
“So definitely there was pressure, but I didn’t feel that pressure. I just really wanted to win and that was going to happen. Thank God.
“It was beautiful, man. I mean, I didn’t even sleep that night. It was just so surreal.”
In a 52-fight career that spanned 17 years, Hernandez’s toughest fight came after his swansong.
““It was pretty hard there,” he says. “There was some depression. I retired and moved to Texas. I wanted to get out. So, I got out, went to Texas, went to San Antonio. I fell in love with it. It was nice. I couldn’t believe the prices of the homes.
“Well, thank God I had a great wife. Not only that, I had my businesses. I opened two boxing gyms in San Antonio, and that kept me busy. So, it wasn’t like I had time to just sit, ponder or twiddle my thumbs. I did have something to do, because if I didn’t have anything to do, I’d be thinking, OK, I got to box.
“But I had a family; I was a straight-up, hands-on father. I was always there and, to this day, I am close to my kids. They’re my world. They’re my treasure and I thank God I was able to be there for my children, be that father that a lot of kids don’t get to have.”
In the end, Carlos sold his two gyms and left the world of boxing.
“There was a time when, after the pandemic, I was a little away from boxing,” he says. “I was MIA.”
But it was never going to be that easy to walk away from the sport that moulded this tearaway headed down the wrong path in life into an El Salvador hero.
“Now I’m working with Sam Contreras, who was an elite amateur fighter. Now he’s about to turn pro. The guy is phenomenal. He’s Salvadorian-American, like I am, but this kid, he’s something. He just sparred Sergey Lipinets and my guy, man, put it to him. I wouldn’t say he beat him up, but he just looked great.”
Hernandez lived a life that warranted the big screen – and that’s exactly where it’s heading.
“El Salvador is a different country now,” he says. “It’s like a small Dubai right in Central America, so I’ve had some screenwriters, some editors, and some filmmakers approach me. It’s been really interesting.
“It would be a film about, obviously, perseverance, about the support of a country for a guy. Boxing is not the biggest thing, but it is just about perseverance.”
