TRAINING DAY: RUDY HERNANDEZ
corner and said, ‘You know, this guy doesn’t hit so hard.’ And I said, ‘Then bring it to him.’ And then he started to have his best rounds of the fight.” Nakatani surged in rounds 8, 9 and 10, nailing Inoue hard at points in the 10th. However, Inoue landed a big right hand early in the 11th that fractured Nakatani’s orbital bone, and Junto’s momentum stopped. He spent the rest of the 11th round in survival mode and wasn’t able to get the best of Inoue in the 12th. There was no shame in Nakatani losing to The Ring’s No. 1 pound-for- pound fighter, but what would have happened if he had gone after Inoue more aggressively earlier in the fight? “When I say I failed Junto, what I mean is that I gave Inoue too much respect,” said Hernandez. “I forgot that I have a great fighter too. If we would have started being more aggressive in the second, third or fourth round, it could have been a much different fight. “After the fight, I said to Junto that if he wanted to fire me, I would understand it. But he looked at me with
confusion, like, ‘Why would I fire you?’” Hernandez and Nakatani have enjoyed a unique boxing relationship. Nakatani left Japan at the age of 14 to live and train with Hernandez in Los Angeles. Despite initial cultural and linguistic differences, the two forged a deep bond of trust to go along with their mutual love of boxing. Hernandez has helped guide Junto from unknown amateur to a three-weight world champion (112, 115 and 118 pounds) and a place among the top 10 pound- for-pound boxers in the sport. Although Nakatani fell short in his quest to defeat Inoue, he didn’t take the loss particularly hard, according to Hernandez. Nakatani got married in July and is working out in Japan. Hernandez, 62, is a boxing lifer. He has been a noted trainer and cutman in the Southern California scene for decades. He’s had deep connections
with Japanese boxing, and in particular with Akihiko Honda (the president of Teiken Promotions, known as Mr. Honda in boxing circles). His younger brother, the late Genaro Hernandez, was a two-time junior lightweight champion in the ’90s. Rudy was his trainer. He is so well-regarded as a cutman in combat sports that he’s often brought in to work MMA corners in addition to his work in boxing. He also has a strong self-critical streak, even when victorious. One of his cherished routines is to return alone to his hotel room after a fight to contemplate what he could have done differently. Are patterns emerging in his performances? Was he too hesitant? Was he afraid to pull the trigger on an adjustment? One of his great friends in the sport is fellow trainer Manny Robles, and the two often discuss their performances and give feedback to each other regarding what could be done for potential improvement. At this stage of his career, Hernandez doesn’t desire a big stable
Nakatani and Anthony Olascuaga are Hernandez’s star pupils.
Olascuaga attacks Taku Kuwahara in his fourth title defense.
of fighters to train. He’s very particular when evaluating talent. If he doesn’t believe that a fighter can at least become a top contender, then he will pass on training him. It’s Hernandez’s eye for evaluating talent that takes us to current flyweight titleholder Anthony Olascuaga. Even though Olascuaga only had 22 amateur fights (winning 20 of them), Hernandez knew what he had with Olascuaga as early as the Olympic trials in 2019. “Before he turned pro, I called up Mr. Honda and I said that Olascuaga will be a world champion within eight fights,” said Hernandez. Olascuaga, from Los Angeles, opened many eyes in the sport when, in just his sixth pro fight, he stepped in as a last- minute replacement to face Ring and unified junior flyweight champ Kenshiro Teraji. Although Olascuaga came up short in that fight, with the bout stopped in the ninth, he had some good stretches and certainly didn’t embarrass himself in the ring. Based on that performance, Olascuaga caught the eye of the major
Gonzalez and Carlos Cuadras, as well as top contemporaries like Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez. Olascuaga had even sparred with Teraji prior to their fight. “Tony is a really good, humble kid that works hard,” said Hernandez. “And he continues to get better. His maturity has kicked in. His experiences have made him a better fighter.” Hernandez enjoys working with fighters that have great aptitude and discipline. If you credit him for Nakatani’s feints or punch variation, he’ll give the credit right back to Junto for being able to incorporate it into fights. He was very pleased with Nakatani’s knockout of Andrew Moloney in 2023 (which won The Ring Knockout of the Year), because they had been practicing countering with Nakatani’s head off the line to the side. Hernandez considers himself a teacher and believes that it took him decades of work to get to this level. As such, he understands his capabilities, but he also knows that he needs exceptional students. Right now, Hernandez has two of them.
sanctioning bodies in the sport, and just two fights later he defeated Riku Kano for the WBO flyweight title. Hernandez’s prophecy rang true. In fact, Olascuaga only needed eight fights to get to the top! After a competitive fight with Hiroto Kyoguchi in 2025, which Olascuaga won by unanimous decision, he’s been on a roll over his last three bouts, winning each by stoppage. He’s scheduled to fight Yuberjen Martinez, a silver medalist in the 2016 Olympics for Colombia, in California on November 14. Olascuaga recently signed a multi- fight deal with Matchroom Boxing. Olascuaga, at 27, still only has 13 pro fights, but he’s already had seven world title bouts, with six of them in Japan. Hernandez believes that Olascuaga’s development has advanced rapidly by working as a young sparring partner for older greats such as Roman
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