Carlos Hernandez, Jesus Chavez Facing Retirement
By Mark Vester
After suffering tough defeats over the weekend in Austin, Texas, two former champions, Carlos Hernandez and Jesus Chavez, are facing possible retirement. Both fighters had successful careers that were filled with big fights, good money, pay-per-view slots, numerous televised showcases and title belts. And both fighters plan to sit down to decide if retirement is the right option.
Hernandez, who retired in 2006 and returned last August, lost a ten round decision to Vincente Escobedo.
"I wanted to show everyone that I belonged with the big boys but I fell short. I wanted to show everyone, especially the Texans, that I'm all heart. I fight with everything I got for the love of my country and the sport. I'm 38-years-old so it's the wheel of fortune," Hernandez said.
"It's almost about that time for me. I'm not saying this is my last fight but it could be. I don't know. I want to sit down and really think about but I've had a tremendous career [Hernandez breaking down with emotion as he continued to speak]. I'm just always full of emotion. I want to thank Top Rank for taking me to a third championship and I want to thank Golden Boy for letting me showcase my abilities at this stage of my career. I don't know what's going to happen. Vincente fought a great fight. You could say I passed the torch, maybe. I think I did. I will decide in the next few weeks or months if I plan to hang them up again.
Chavez put forth a spirited effort against Michael Katsidis. He was slowly broken down and elected to stop the fight after seven rounds.
"I think that I was in the fight, at some point I felt that I wasn't in the fight. I really couldn't get my shots off on him. There aren't any excuses on my side other than I had some security issues with myself as far as figuring Michael Katsidis out and I opted to stop the fight. That's the way it goes. I felt like I wasn't gaining momentum in the fight," Chavez said.
"I think I'm going to sit back and make the right choice [on my career]. Honestly, I think the choice has already been made as you saw [in the ring]. I think I put on a great performance in boxing and gave it my best shot coming into the fight with Michael Katsidis. I want to thank the fraternity of boxing and I'm glad to have been part of it."
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