Jorge Hernandez: Cuban Boxing Legend’s Inspiring Journey
Jorge Hernández Padrón was a Cuban amateur boxer from Havana who won Olympic, world, Pan American, and Central American and Caribbean gold medals. He competed from the light-flyweight class through the flyweight class and later coached Cuban boxers.
Boxing career and major results
Born in Havana on November 17, 1954, Hernández won the light-flyweight gold medal at the 1974 Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo. Later that year, he also won gold at the first AIBA World Boxing Championships, held in Havana. He added a Pan American Games title in 1975.
At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Hernández won the 48-kilogram gold medal, defeating North Korea’s Li Byong-Uk in the final. He won silver at the 1978 World Championships in Belgrade. At the 1980 Moscow Olympics, competing one weight class higher, he lost in the second round to eventual silver medalist Viktor Miroshnichenko and did not win a medal.
After his competitive career, Hernández worked as a coach, including with Cuba’s national team. He died in Havana on December 12, 2019, aged 65.
Sources
Sources: Olympedia’s Jorge Hernández profile and Olympic results; International Boxing Association on the 1974 World Championships; Olympedia’s 1980 Olympic boxing results; World Boxing Council obituary; Around the Rings / AFP on his coaching career.
Tags
Boxing, Boxing History
