Wichita’s Nico Hernandez wins again, clinches medal in Olympic boxing

The first U.S. boxing medal in eight years is coming to Wichita.

Wichita native Nico Hernandez defeated Ecuador’s Carlos Quipo Pilataxi on Wednesday evening by unanimous decision to secure a spot in the Olympic boxing light flyweight semifinals. The three judges’ scores were all 29-28.

With the win, Hernandez, 20, is guaranteed at least a bronze medal, becoming the first U.S. boxer since Deontay Wilder in 2008 to medal for the Americans.

“It feels great,” Hernandez said. “Me and my team have been working since we were little, and now we finally got to a big stage. We’ve come out here to change USA boxing.”

Similar to his first two fights, Hernandez relied on patience and selected his punches carefully to defeat Quipo Pilataxi. Wednesday’s fight was Hernandez’s most closely contested bout of the Olympics, which includes a victory over second-seeded Vasilii Egorov on Monday.

Hernandez fell behind early in the first round on Wednesday, taking a left hook to the face and responding with a left hook of his own to Quipo Pilataxi’s face. His Ecuadorian opponent connected on left hooks to Hernandez’s body and head later in the round, while Hernandez missed most of his punches above Quipo Pilataxi’s head. All three judges ruled Quipo Pilataxi the winner of the opening round.

Hernandez battled back in the second round with a left cross in the first minute that connected with his opponent’s face. Hernandez later connected on a right hook and right upper cut to the same target, while defending most of Quipo Pilataxi’s blows throughout the round.

Hernandez said between the first and second rounds, U.S. coaches advised him to be more patient.

“They told me to not rush, use the feints, let (Quipo Pilataxi) come in, pick my uppercuts and stay on the outside because he was the shorter fighter,” he explained. “And it worked.”

“I was getting in too close, fighting his fight instead of sticking on the outside, picking my shots,” Hernandez added. “So once I started picking my shots and landing cleaner shots, it worked for me.”

Hernandez started a back-and-forth third round by connecting on a left hook to Quipo Pilataxi’s head before taking a right hook to the body. Hernandez responded to a right cross to the face with a left jab to his opponent’s head. He later landed a left upper cut to Quipo Pilataxi’s body and closed the third round landing the same punch.

Hernandez’s victory on Wednesday also represents the United States’ first medal winner under coach Billy Walsh, who joined the team in October after more than three decades as a former boxing Olympian and coach for Ireland. Walsh, who won seven medals as Ireland’s coach, called Hernandez one of the most “teachable” boxers he has coached.

“He listens to everything you tell him to do,” Walsh said. “You can’t ask any more from him.”

Hernandez advances to the light flyweight division semifinals, where he’ll face Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan at 10:15 a.m. Central time Friday.

The United States will have its first light-flyweight medalist since 1988.

Hernandez has climbed into some rare air when it comes to Wichita’s Olympians.

Wichita’s last Olympic medalists were in 1984. Women’s basketball player Lynette Woodard and men’s volleyball player Marc Waldie were gold medalists.

The last individual medalist from Wichita, before Hernandez, was distance running legend Jim Ryun. Competing in his second of three Olympics in 1968, Ryan won silver in the 1500 meters.

Should Hernandez get to the final, he would be trying to become Wichita’s first gold medalist in an individual event since 1932, when Cathedral High grad Jim Bausch won the decathlon at the Los Angeles Olympics.

Hernandez is guaranteed at least a bronze medal, as bronzes are awarded to the losers of each semifinal fight in the Olympic boxing format. But the Wichita native said he’s going for more.

“My focus was to come in and get the gold medal,” he said. “So I won’t be satisfied until I get the gold medal.”

This story was originally published August 10, 2016 at 3:33 PM with the headline "Wichita’s Nico Hernandez wins again, clinches medal in Olympic boxing."