Olympic boxing medalist Nico Hernandez prepares for BKFC debut

Flyweight boxer Nico Hernandez won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics, but the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

You would assume that an Olympic boxing medalist would be swarmed with lucrative promotional contracts. That might be true for middleweights and heavyweights, but life is different for flyweights. Just ask Nico Hernandez.

Hernandez (7-0, 4 KOs) has been boxing since he was 9 years old. The Kansas native won numerous national titles as an amateur. He made it to the 2016 Rio Olympics and won a bronze medal. He flew under the radar, but as a flyweight, that’s easy to do, unfortunately.

Boxing has a social hierarchy all of its own. The heavier weight classes dominate the attention and pay. The 112-pound flyweight division, along with the other lighter weight divisions, doesn’t receive enough respect. Lighter weight typically means less punching power, which equates to fewer knockouts.

People love the melodrama of a knockout, which is why the bigger weight divisions receive more love. It’s not right, but that’s been the lifetime economics of boxing’s unwritten pay structure. After winning the bronze medal, Hernandez received promotional offers that he viewed as subpar.

“I had a couple offers, but I felt like they wasn’t really too good enough offers, and I didn’t really want to cheat myself, ” Hernandez told FanSided. “So I kind of went to where the money was and stuff. Now, I’m looking to sign with a bigger promoter and stuff and kind of get my face out there so that I’m able to get those fights with the world champions and become world champion.”

Hernandez signed with a local Kansas promoter. Things went smoothly for the first two years, but he grew dissatisfied with the way things were going and got out of his contract. It’s almost inconceivable that an Olympic medalist with Hernandez’s amateur background wouldn’t be more sought after regardless of his weight division. Hernandez compiled an impressive 94-5 amateur record. Hernandez sees the stigma surrounding smaller fighters as the reason he hasn’t signed with a premier boxing promoter.

“Yeah, I definitely see it like that,” said Hernandez. “You can just because I’m a smaller fighter that we don’t get as much attention as I feel like is good, but I feel like we do come to fight and we always put on a show, and there’s never really no lack of interest from the fans in our fights.”

Hernandez was a free agent when the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) came calling. They offered Hernandez a fight for good money, and he accepted. Hernandez fights Chancey Wilson at BKFC 13 on Saturday, Oct. 10, in the co-main event. It’s not the typical career path for a young 24-year-old boxing prospect, but it was the right move for Hernandez. Not everybody was thrilled with his decision.

“I got a lot of negative feedback,” said Hernandez. “It didn’t surprise me at all. And then most of the people that did the bare knuckle boxing are older, and I’m an Olympian and stuff. I have a big name, and I guess they were just surprised about that. I wasn’t really surprised about the feedback. I kind of knew it’s going to happen, but I don’t know. I guess I didn’t really care. I’m a fighter. That’s just what I do.”

Nico Hernandez makes his bare knuckle fighting debut at BKFC 13. It gives him a chance to showcase his talent further.

Hernandez is a boxer who seeks out the action. He’s willing to trade with his opponent and puts on a good show. Hernandez sees the BKFC as a means to an end. He wants to be a boxing world champion but wants to be paid what he’s worth. Hernandez is a true fighter at heart, and he’s used to overcoming the odds.

Hernandez is a talented fighter, but one of his best attributes is his internal depth. Hernandez is a layered personality who has endured loss and learned how to make it work for him. As an amateur, Hernandez trained alongside side friend Tony Losey. Hernandez’s father, Lewis, trained and mentored Losey, who was four years older than Hernandez. He became a part of the family and earned the role of big brother to Hernandez.

“That was like my big brother, and my dad kind of took him under his wing for a couple of years,” said Hernandez remembering Losey. “And he lived with us for a couple of years. You know, we slept in the same bed and shared the same room. He pretty much taught me everything.”

Losey was a top-3 amateur welterweight. He and Hernandez dreamed of traveling to Rio together, but two years before the Olympics, Losey died in a tragic accident at work.

“It was an accident at work,” revealed Hernandez. “He was working, and like a 10,000-ton tank fell on him, and he died instantly.”

Losey’s death served as inspiration for Hernandez. Hernandez wanted to make the Olympics because it was the dream he shared with Losey. The bronze medal was the cherry on top.

“Not even like winning the medal, but just going to the Olympics was just real important because that was our goal together to make it to the Olympics and then turn professional together,” said Hernandez. “So he was definitely on his way, you know, he was a real good southpaw.”

Hernandez is still motivated by Losey’s memory.

“I feel like when I’m in the ring, I feel like he’s still there,” said Hernandez. “You know, watching me at all my fights and stuff.”

It doesn’t matter if Hernandez is throwing blows in a ring or the BKFC circle. Hernandez is fighting with purpose and with the spirit of Losey by his side. Time will tell if he becomes a BKFC regular or a future boxing champion, but he’s deserving of a chance to display his talent. What’s boxing’s loss is the BKFC’s gain.

Nico Hernandez makes his BKFC debut against Chancey Wilson at BKFC 13 on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 9 p.m. ET. BKFC 13 can be seen exclusively on the BKFC app.