It was approximately two years ago when I saw Jose “El Loco” Hernandez (14-7-1,6KO’S) on a Pauli Ayala boxing card in Fort Worth and I knew what to expect from his fight game. He is the kind of fighter that has no fear in the ring and is ready to go toe to toe at any moment. Friday night on ESPN Friday Night Fights he was part of the main event against Russian Rustam Nugaev (25-6-1, 14KO’s).
Both fighters had been on ESPN Friday Nights before, so at least that made them even going into this fight, sort of. Upon closer review it was revealed that the warrior Hernandez had taken the fight on just two weeks notice. Even so, I thought the fight would be a little more even, knowing that Nugaev himself was coming into the fight after a two year layoff, and only fighting twice in April and June of this year. He won both those fights by knockouts, and apparently his knockout record (14KO’s) was no fluke.
In the first round, the heavy handed Nugaev wasted no time when he threw a big right hand as it landed flush on Hernandez’ chin. It was actually a counter punch from a nice left hook from Hernandez and it hurt Hernandez. It wobbled the tough Hernandez but he gained his composure and finished the round. It was a punch that seemed to have been the beginning of the end as the fight continued.
Although Hernandez lost the first round, he came out in the second round and landed a nice uppercut on Nugaev as he was being pursued around the ring. Hernandez then followed that up by landing several right hand body punches and a nice combination, as blood started to appear on the face of Nugaev. Nugaev then landed a few of his own body punches on Hernandez as they stood close to the ropes. Hernandez finished the round by landing two nice left jabs to the head of Nugaev and the bell sounded. Hernandez appeared to be finding his range.
Just when it looked like Hernandez was gaining ground and as he was landing some hard punches on Nugaev, he got caught with a huge left hook at the beginning of the third round. This would be one of many left hooks that Nugaev would land throughout the fight. Hernandez then retaliated with a flurry of punches on the Russian and finished it with an uppercut. ESPN gave this round to Nugaev although it appeared even.
Before the fourth round, ESPN stats showed that Nugaev was landing more of the power punches, and I had to agree. In the fourth round, Nugaev landed another big left hook that hurt Hernandez again, but he took the punch well and returned the favor with a long right hand punch. Nugaev then landed a double combination and several body punches on the tough Hernandez. At the end of the round, Hernandez just missed a big right hand and they went toe to toe until the bell sounded.
At the beginning of the fifth round, it was obvious that Hernandez’ legs were starting to wear out and fatigue may have been setting in. It didn’t take long for Nugaev to figure this out as he pursued Hernandez on the ropes and landed several punches including a huge left hook to the body and Hernandez took a knee to the canvas. The referee counted him out at 1:38 of the fifth round by KO.
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