Yoan Pablo Hernández Suárez (born October 28, 1984) is a Cuban-German former professional boxer who competed between 2005 and 2020. He held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the Ring magazine cruiserweight titles between 2011 and 2015. He is the half-brother of Yoel Romero, a freestyle wrestler and mixed martial artist.

Amateur career Yoan Pablo Hernández started boxing with the Cuban national team at a very young age. He got silver at the Cadet World Championships (under 17) 2001 at 201 lbs/91 kg. He won the heavyweight Junior World Championships in 2002 in Santiago de Cuba but lost twice to countryman Odlanier Solís and was forced to go down in weight. At light heavyweight (178 lbs) in 2003 Hernández won the silver medal at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo where he lost to Ramiro Reducindo.

He participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics for his native country. There he was defeated in the second round of the light heavyweight (81 kg) division by Russia's Evgeny Makarenko, a double world champion in the event.

Although he was considered one of the top prospects in Cuban boxing, he defected to Germany, and is now based in Berlin, Germany.

Amateur highlights 2001 Cuban junior champion at heavyweight World Junior championships as a heavyweight, in competition in Baku, Azerbaijan. Results were: Defeated Dato Dundva (Georgia) points Defeated Rufat Hairbekov (Azerbaijan) points Lost to Siergej Ivanov (Russia) points World Junior championships 2002 (heavyweight) in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. Results were: Defeated Justin White (Canada) RTD 1 Defeated Vitaly Mikhyeyenko (Ukraine) 31–11. Defeated Stefan Koeber (Germany) RSC 3 Defeated Parfait Amougou (Cameroon) RSC 3. (Captured gold medal) Pan American games 2003 (light heavyweight) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Defeated Argenis Casimiro Núñez (Dominican Republic) RSC 4 Lost to Ramiro Reducindo (Mexico (20–37) (won silver medal) Represented Cuba as a light heavyweight at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. His results were: 1st round bye: Lost to Evgeny Makarenko (Russia) 18–30 2003 knocked out by Odlanier Solís in 3rd round at Cuban amateur heavyweight championship competition. 2003 competed as a light heavyweight at 2003 Pan-American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Results were: Defeated Eduardo Beltran (Ecuador) RSC 1 Defeated Argenis Casimiro Núñez (Dominican Republic) RSC 4 Lost to Ramiro Reducindo (Mexico) 20–37 2004 3rd place at Cuban national light heavyweight competition, losing on points to Vladimir Linares Mesquia RSC 4 2005 Cuban national champion (light heavyweight)

Professional career

Cruiserweight Hernández was a fast and hard-punching boxer who competed entirely at cruiserweight. Hernández knocked out Daniel Bispo in the first round to win the vacant WBA Fedelatin Cruiserweight Championship. On December 29, 2007, he knocked out world title challenger Mohamed Azzaoui to retain his WBA Fedelatin title and win the vacant WBC Latino title but suffered his first defeat on March 29, 2008 when he lost via 3rd-round TKO to ex-champ Wayne Braithwaite of Guyana after controlling the match for the first two rounds and even knocking Braithwaite down in the 1st round. Hernández got too cocky in the 3rd and decided to shoot it out with him resulting in Braithwaite knocking Hernández down 3 times. He later won a wide decision over prospect Aaron Williams.

On September 19, 2009 Hernández defeated Enad Licina by a wide UD for the IBF Inter-Continental Cruiserweight title, becoming the first Cuban to hold a version of the IBF title since it was created.

On March 13, 2010 Hernández made his first defense of the IBF Inter-Continental title by beating Cesar David Crenz by unanimous decision.

On February 12, 2011 Hernández won the Interim WBA Cruiserweight title by knocking out Steve Herelius. With this latest win he extended his undefeated streak to 10 fights since the defeat to Braithwaite and improved his overall record to 24-1 (13 knockouts).

Hernández vs. Cunningham On 1 October 2011, Hernández defeated The Ring No. 1 Cruiserweight, Steve Cunningham, by sixth round technical decision for the IBF Cruiserweight Championship. The fight was stopped due to Hernández being cut by an illegal headbutt, though the fight was not without controversy. Hernández knocked Cunningham down with a counter left hook in the first round and seemed to be badly hurt, but referee Mickey Vann decided to let the fight continue after what seemed like a controversial slow count. Cunningham made a comeback during the second and third rounds, hitting Hernández with body shots in the second and becoming more aggressive during the third. However the latter round was also marred with controversy as Hernández was hit with an accidental headbutt that caused a cut and that many felt was intentional, with referee Vann not stopping the fight or even giving a warning to Cunningham. During the fourth round both fighters seems about equal, with Cunningham controlling the pace with his jab and Hernández successfully landing a combo. During the fifth round, Hernández accidentally hit Cunningham behind the head when referee Vann attempted to break up a clinch. During the sixth and final round the corner of Hernández as well as the ringside physician inspected the cut caused by Cunningham's headbutt. Afterwards Hernández seemed ready to resume with the round when the referee stopped the fight due to the physician deeming Hernández unfit to continue. The score cards were 57–56 for Cunningham and 58–55 and 59–54 for Hernández.

Hernández vs. Cunningham II Hernández and Cunningham had a rematch on 4 February 2012. The winner of this fight was to be crowned the new The Ring Cruiserweight Champion. Hernández won via unanimous decision.

Outside boxing Hernández played the part of Joe Louis in the 2010 German film Max Schmeling.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes31Loss29–2Kevin JohnsonKO7 (8), 22 Aug 202030Win29–1Firat Arslan1216 Aug 201429Win28–1Aleksandr AlekseyevTKO10 (12), 23 Nov 201328Win27–1Troy RossUD1215 Sep 201227Win26–1Steve CunninghamUD124 Feb 201226Win25–1Steve Cunningham6 (12), 1 Oct 201125Win24–1Steve HéréliusKO7 (12), 12 Feb 201124Win23–1Ali IsmailovKO1 (12), 18 Dec 201023Win22–1Zack PageUD85 Jun 201022Win21–1César David CrenzUD1212 Mar 201021Win20–1Enad LičinaUD1217 Oct 200920Win19–1Aaron WilliamsUD89 May 200919Win18–1Micky SteedsKO5 (8), 28 Feb 200918Win17–1Michael Simms825 Oct 200817Win16–1Santiago De PaulaTKO5 (8), 30 Aug 200816Win15–1Stefan RaaffRTD3 (8)7 Jun 200815Loss14–1Wayne BraithwaiteTKO3 (12), 29 Mar 200814Win14–0Mohamed AzzaouiKO3 (12), 29 Dec 200713Win13–0Ismail AbdoulUD827 Oct 200712Win12–0Daniel BispoKO1 (10), 18 Aug 200711Win11–0Thomas HansvollKO1 (8), 23 Jun 200710Win10–0Héctor Alfredo ÁvilaUD814 Apr 20079Win9–0Jason CurryKO1 (8), 16 Dec 20068Win8–0Jean Claude BikoiUD823 Sep 20067Win7–0Carl GathrightKO1 (8), 13 May 20066Win6–0Ervin Slonka3 (6), 8 Apr 20065Win5–0Aleksejs KosobokovsUD64 Mar 20064Win4–0Aleksejs Kosobokovs2 (6), 10 Dec 20053Win3–0Mounir Chibi412 Nov 20052Win2–0Vladislav Druso1 (4), 10 Sep 20051Win1–0David Vicena2 (4), 3 Sep 2005

References

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