10.08.05 – By John Way: On August 13th, former lightweight spoiler Ubaldo Hernandez will engage in fisticuffs with Matt Zegan of Poland. In 2001 this fight would have been a scintillating match-up with two superbly fit, power punching fighters. Unfortunately, this is 2005, and Ubaldo is desperately in need of a reality check, as he is set to humiliate himself. There is little doubt that Team Zegan seeks to pad their charges record with Hernandez’ once prestigious name, while knowing that he poses almost no threat at all..
Hernandez has not won a significant fight since 2001 when he shocked the hard core boxing world by sending prospect Ebo Elder to queer street in the first round. Sadly, it has been all down hill since then, with the Mexican only winning three fights since then, signaling to everyone except the fighter himself, that the time has come to hang em up. No long the crowd-pleasing bomber who famously sent Juan Diaz to the canvas several years ago, he continues to ruin a once impressive ledger, which now stands at 19-16-2 with 10KO’s. His last win came seven fights ago when he scored a second round victory over professional loser Henry Cokes (5-12). Before that, he dropped every round to Vivian Harris in twelve brutal stanzas, and then put up a game effort to Miguel Cotto, before capitulating in the seventh.
Since the win over Henry, he has lost every fight, and almost every round of his last six contests. Still, he was losing to okay opposition like Rolando Reyes and Fransisco Lorenzo, so as long as he put up a fight, no one cared if he lost. That all changed when Marco Angel Perez hit him with everything short of the bible last December, in a fight that saw him completely frustrated by a man who failed to last half a round with Julio Diaz. To everyone still in denial about the state of Ubaldo’s fighting career, Juan Urango conveniently provided irrefutable proof that Hernandez should quit, when “Twin Irons” sent him to the canvas twice in two rounds. The powerful prospect made Hernandez look totally inept, with the veteran wholly failing to defend himself from his opponents hard charging attack.
This Saturday, the shaggy dog story continues as he faces 35-1 Zegan in a mismatch of almost unrivaled proportions. One has to wonder why sports writers are whining for Thomas Hearns and Evander Holyfield to quit, while silently permitting wholesale slaughters like this to occur. Here’s to hoping that someone reads about this travesty, and pulls the plug on the whole depressing affair. Comments are welcome below.