35 year old Vladimir Hernandez of Mexico won a gripping fight against Dominica’s Raul Garcia at the ProBox TV events center in Florida last night.

Garcia (13-2-1) with 11 knockouts, took control of the fight in round one behind his jab while working to head and body.  Garcia’s right hand found a home early doors, as Hernandez (16-6-0) with 7 knockouts, marauded forward.

This pattern continued into round two.

Hernandez did have success in spots, and was constantly on the front foot, but the precision and timing of Garcia’s work looked as though this would be a tough night for Hernandez.

In round three, it got worse for Hernandez.  He started the round well enough, and big shots were thrown by both men mid-round, but with thirty seconds left of the round, Garcia landed a right hand that stopped Hernandez in his tracks. Garcia then proceeded to land a right hand, left hook, right hand combination, with the left hook doing the most damage, putting Hernandez on the deck, heavily.  Hernandez rose, just, on the count of nine.

Hernandez, luckily, gained a few more seconds to recover because the referee couldn’t communicate clearly that he wanted Garcia to go back to a neutral corner while he was asking Hernandez to walk towards him, to ensure he was fit to continue.  The confusion meant that the bell went before Garcia got a chance to land another blow before the end of the round.

Garcia tried to capitalise on the knockdown in the previous round, and they exchanged big hooks, but Garcia’s landed more cleanly, really testing Hernandez’s chin again and again throughout the round.

TURN OF THE TIDE

Well on top at this stage, it looked rosy for Garcia, but it all changed in round five when Hernandez threw an innocuous right hand that landed near the top of Garcia’s forehead and made him stumble to the canvas. Garcia rose at the count of seven, eyes glazed, but showed the referee that he was fit to go on.  Hernandez jumped in for the kill, sensing that Garcia was gone, but Garcia just about found his feet again in the final third of the round and landed a nice uppercut.  Fantastic action.

Hernandez continued to stay on top of Garcia for the next couple of rounds, buoyed by the confidence of the knockdown.

In round eight Garcia started the round well, picking Hernandez off, showing signs of his work in the early rounds, but again, Hernandez continued to harass Garcia on the front foot and landed a left hook, right hand, left hook combination that put Garcia down for a second time in the fight.

Garcia got up with thirty seconds left of the round, and saw it out landing big shots himself. Great exchange.

Garcia took the momentum from the end of round eight, despite the knockdown, and came out all guns blazing in round nine.  Although he won the majority of the early rounds, two knockdowns put Garcia in jeopardy and he was fighting like he knew that.  Hernandez halted Garcia’s momentum and started landing big shots at will with Garcia throwing nothing back, this time. Hernandez continued to pile on the pressure but Garcia’s chin held up and he retaliated at the end of the round as both men exchanged punches.

Hernandez continued to push forward in the final round, and although Garcia gallantly landed some telling blows near the end of the round, it wasn’t enough to pull back what had been lost since he was knocked down in round five.

The judges scored the fight 96-91, 95-92 and 94-93 all in favour of Hernandez.

It was a thrilling fight, one of many that have been produced on Pro Box’s Wednesday night fight cards.