SAN BERNADINO, Calif. – Vladimir Hernandez emerged from another hard-fought war with victory following 10 rough rounds with Isaias Lucero.

They boxed in the co-main event on ProBox TV at the Orange Show Events Center, and Hernandez was pushed all the way claiming a split decision win, and climbing off the deck in the second round to do so.

“Yeah, it was difficult but we managed to bounce back from the knockdown,” Hernandez told BoxingScene. “When I got knocked down I was like, ‘Damn, I’ve got to get back up and bounce back again.’ But once we hit the second and third round, I started feeling a little bit more confident that this fight was mine.”

Lucero’s right hand was working well against Hernandez early on, but the Stockton-based Mexican worked out what to do and started to nullify Lucero’s best weapon.

“Especially because once I realized that if I just cut the distance from him and eliminated that right hand, it was really just my fight,” Hernandez added. “He was very strong, I think he came in heavy, he was probably heavier than us, he could take a lot, and that honestly surprised me a little bit.” 

The 35-year-old southpaw improved to 17-6 (7 KOs), and is becoming one of the more entertaining fighters in the sport. It has certainly never been easy for him.

“Yeah, we’ve had a lot of tough fights,” he said. “I’ve only had tough fights my whole career if you look back on it, but we look at it as a positive for my legacy and it makes you a better fighter and it forms you as a fighter. We’ve been working with ProBox. We’ve had about three or four fights with ProBox. We love it and we’ve had nothing but hard fights and if that’s the way to go, that’s the way we’re going to go until we get that title opportunity – which we deserve.”

Hernandez has won three on the spin, and he has seen other fighters use the ProBox TV platform as currency to land them on big bills and in significant fights. He would like to be the next. 

“We hope so,” he said. “That’s what we’re going for. We hope that ProBox sees [what he’s doing] and we’ll make sure they see all the legacy fights that we’re leaving, from Knockout of the Year, Fight of the Year candidates, and another great fight here. I want the championship fights. I want the guys who have the belts at the top. [Xander] Zayas I think is mandatory now. But I want the guys with the belts and I’m looking to have a legacy and I really don’t even care. If it comes down to it and people count me out, I don’t even care. I just want a chance at those titles.”