Eduardo ‘Rocky’ Hernandez beat Daniel Lugo in emphatic style at the Palenque de la Feria National de San Marcos in Aguascalientes, Mexico on Saturday night.

Hernandez, now 35-2, was in fine form as he overwhelmed Daniel Lugo, 27-3-1, in seven rounds.

As impressive a performance as it was, it wasn’t until the 4th round that Hernandez got into full steam.

The first couple of rounds saw Hernandez go against his natural instincts and box on the back foot, with his back against the ropes and hands down by his side. He had some success, landing decent body shots, but invited Lugo to take aim, and Lugo did so.

In the third round, with Hernandez against one of the corner posts, Lugo landed a heavy left hook and right uppercut that shook Hernandez. Managing to see out the rest of the round, the shock seemed to flip a switch in Hernandez, and over the next four rounds, the Rocky Hernandez that fans know and love, was back.

Toe to toe, forehead to forehead, Hernandez and Lugo traded hooks and uppercuts to the head and body in round four.

In round five, Hernandez was like a whirlwind swirling around Lugo. There was no escape.

Hernandez teed off on Lugo with relentless combinations on the inside at a hellacious pace. Hernandez was in the groove.

Lugo, bravely, tried to come forward and land shots of his own over the next couple of rounds, but to no avail.

The referee jumped in between Hernandez and a bloodied Lugo, with 41 seconds left on the clock of round seven, to stop the contest and save Lugo from further punishment.

After the fight, Hernandez said; ‘When two Mexicans go into the ring it’s a guaranteed war. We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy fight.

‘I had to use my experience from my previous fight with O’Shaquie Foster when Daniel connected with me (in the third round).’

This was Hernandez’s first fight since his dramatic, fight of the year contender, loss to O’Shaquie Foster in October 2023.

Hernandez went on to call out the big names and title holders of the division.

‘O’Shaquie Foster, Joe Cordina, Lamont Roach, Oscar Valdez, I want you to know that Rocky Hernandez is waiting for you’.

Fights for Hernandez with any of the names mentioned would be fireworks, but a rematch with O’Shaquie Foster would be especially exciting.