Injury postpones Nico Hernandez’s championship fight on Saturday

Five days before Nico Hernandez was set to fight for his first championship, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist’s promotion company, KO Night Boxing, announced on Monday morning the title bout has been delayed due to an injury suffered in training camp last week.

Hernandez (3-0, 2 KOs) was originally scheduled to fight Hungarian flyweight champion Jozsef Ajtai (19-9, 12 KOs) in an eight-round main event for the vacant IBA Americas flyweight championship this Saturday. The fight has been postponed until Feb. 10, 2018 at Hartman Arena due to the unspecified injury.

Lewis Hernandez, Nico’s father and trainer, told the Eagle on Monday that it was his final decision to postpone the fight.

“Nico really wanted to fight and he’s upset right now that he’s not going to get to fight (Saturday), but it was a team decision,” Lewis Hernandez said. “We felt this is what is best for him. We wanted him at 100 percent, especially when we’re going for the title shot. I didn’t want to leave it up to anything else going on, I just felt like we didn’t need to take that chance.”

The father declined to specify what injury Nico Hernandez had suffered, citing competitive reasons, although Lewis Hernandez said Nico should be 100 percent by the end of December. Nico could have fought on Saturday, Lewis emphasized, but the lingering effects of the fight could have sidelined him even longer.

Instead, Hernandez will take two months off to heal and prepare for his most experienced opponent yet.

“We want to do something to (Ajtai) that is very seldom done to him,” Lewis Hernandez said. “I want Nico to stop him. I have no doubts Nico would have won on Saturday, but I don’t know if he could have stopped him with the injury. We want to let him heal up and make sure he’s 100 percent.”

For fans who have purchased tickets already to the Dec. 2 event, they will still be honored in February. If ticket holders are unable to attend the new date, full refunds will be offered at the point of purchase.

“Injuries are an unfortunate part of boxing, but the good news is that Nico will be 100 percent ready to go February 10th,” promoter John Andersen said in the release. “I know that Nico feels that he’s letting everybody down, but at the end of the day, all that really coutns is his health. He’s a tough kid who has his entire pro career ahead of him.”

This story was originally published November 27, 2017 at 10:49 AM with the headline "Injury postpones Nico Hernandez’s championship fight on Saturday."