This is a sad story (read article below) - I hope it works out. I think it's great how the boxing community stepped in to help. ------------------------- By J. Michael Falgoust, USA TODAY Genaro Hernandez doesn't look much like "The Champ." He doesn't sound like him, either. The radiation has damaged his vocal cords. He's down to 118 pounds. He's had it. "There are days when I look at myself and say, 'Why do I have to go through all this? Why now?' " says the 43-year-old, who held the junior lightweight championship (130 pounds) twice before retiring in 1998. In October, he noticed a lump underneath his jaw. Two days later, he had two lumps on the back of the neck. Hernandez was told it was nothing by a doctor until he went to a neck specialist who told him that he had a malignant tumor growing in the sinus area of his forehead. In 2005, Hernandez's Mission Viejo, Calif., home was badly damaged from a mudslide and he couldn't afford to fix it. Despite not living an extravagant lifestyle, the married father of two can't afford treatment for his rare form of cancer. It didn't take long for the boxing community, which has long had an affinity for Henandez (38-2-1, 17 KOs) as one of the sport's good guys, to step in: His longtime promoter, Akihiko Honda of Japan, has provided monthly financial support. This content is protected of Top Rank, Inc., has funded three trips to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Research Center in Houston for MRIs, scans and blood work. Active and former Mexican boxers such as This content is protected , Antonio Diaz and This content is protected turned out for a fundraiser to help the south central Los Angeles native also known as "Chicanito." Hernandez still lives in his damaged home because he lost most of his earnings in the stock market, particularly with the fall of Enron in 2001, he says, and that includes the career-high $600,000 he made in his last fight vs. This content is protected . Because of his health, he can't work. He used to do international broadcasts for HBO as well as compile punch statistics at ringside for CompuBox. He tried becoming a police officer in Los Angeles, but that ended when the cancer struck. Hernandez is returning to Houston on Aug. 17 for a fourth visit. In June, another mass was spotted but it could be just a congestion, not cancer that caused him to lose 46 pounds. If it weren't for the help Hernandez has received from Honda and Arum, among others, the cancer likely would've spread to the nerves of his eye and his brain. "Without them," he says, "I would probably be homeless having to pay for all these treatments and studies. "It just makes life a lot brighter every day I wake up." http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2009-08-06-genaro-hernandez_N.htm?csp=34
Wow that is sad, and I hadnt heard that. A lot of tragedies surrounding boxing lately, and he was a classy champion. Didnt Floyd win his first title from Chicanito?
Dam thats sad ..Glad that the boxing community did step in ..But dam he lost most of his money due to the fall of Enron ?? Wow
Very hard to read this. I met him. He is a very nice man. I hope and pray for the best for him and with the therapies now he will pull through and live a long life. Therapies keep getting better and better.
The Ring website had a video interview of him months back. A must see, shows how decent this guy really is.
Links to the interview video (hard to watch) PART 1 http://www.ringtv.com/video/genaro_hernandez_part_1/ PART 2 http://www.ringtv.com/video/genaro_hernandez_part_2/
