Yoan Pablo Hernandez’s comeback wasn’t quite as successful as Sergio Martinez’s. The former cruiserweight champ, fighting for the first time since 2014, was thoroughly demolished by Kevin Johnson this past Saturday in Magdeburg, Germany.
Johnson (35-17-1, 19 KO) entered the fight in the midst of a five-fight losing streak and with just one win in the last seven years over an opponent with a winning record, making Hernandez (29-2, 14 KO) a comfortable favorite despite the layoff and new weight class. Instead, an uncharacteristically aggressive “Kingpin” reportedly walked him down all night, dropping Hernandez in the fourth and putting him to sleep with a vicious left hook in the eighth round.
Hernandez had originally retired at 29 after a long string of injuries, leaving him less weathered than your average 35-year-old boxer and ostensibly more capable of getting back on track. Unfortunately, getting mollywhopped by the likes of Johnson demands a thorough re-evaluation.
Between this and his show of actual effort against Mariusz Wach earlier this summer, Johnson’s really been looking like an actual boxer lately. Keep it up.