Hernandez Survives Brawl

SAN ANTONIO —  Genaro Hernandez was a head taller and far more battle-tested, but, in the end, only a few points better than Anatoly Alexandrov on Saturday night at the Alamodome.

In a lackluster performance caused by his opponent’s awkward style, Hernandez kept his World Boxing Council super-featherweight title in a split-decision victory over Alexandrov. The 32-year-old Hernandez (36-1-1) hit the charging, ducking Russian with several crackling shots to the head, but seemed to either lack the energy or the style to control the tempo of the bout.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t do what I wanted to do, which was outsmart Alexandrov,” Hernandez said. “I wanted to stay outside, but I could see that wasn’t working, so I had to fight his fight--which is why it turned out so ugly.”

Alexandrov (30-3) bobbed and ducked his way inside Hernandez’s long arms, bumped his head and fists up into Hernandez and generally made things difficult the whole fight.

“He turned it into a brawl,” Hernandez said. “He was trying to take away something that didn’t belong to him, my belt, so I had to get in there with him and brawl.”

Angel Luis Guzman of Puerto Rico scored it 115-113 for the challenger, while Jose Juan Guerra of Mexico scored it for Hernandez, 116-113, and Walter Schall of Austria scored it 115-113 for the champion.

“I was never hurt--it was a wrong decision,” Alexandrov said.

Another possible factor for Hernandez’s struggle: For the first time in his career, Hernandez struggled to make weight, which could have affected him the longer Alexandrov charged.

Hernandez had to lose two pounds Friday, the day of the weigh-in, to get down to the 130-pound limit.

In earlier bouts, 1996 Olympic bronze medalist Floyd Mayweather (8-0, 7 KOs) scored a sixth-round unanimous-decision victory over Larry O’Shields (12-4-1); and former junior-lightweight champion Jesse James Leija (33-3-2) won a 10-round decision over Jose Rodriguez (19-4).