Erding: Uwel Hernandez: German champions all at once

Just before Christmas, Uwel Hernandez wins a belt. The Erdinger professional boxer is German super middleweight champion.

Erding – It has something of a family reunion in the premises of the Kickboxing Club (KBV) Erding. With a big hello and a very warm welcome, the professional boxers Uwel Hernandez and Simon Zachenhuber are received by their former coaches Heinz Klupp and Peter Lutzny – as good as Corona allows.

The 28-year-old Hernandez has a suitcase with him, inside is the belt that he got shortly before Christmas for his victory in the German championship in the super middleweight division (up to 76.2 kilos). In the ten-round fight, he knocked out his opponent Chris Hermann from Bremen in the second round

Hernandez is a native Cuban, born and raised in Havana. He owes his first name Uwel to his mother. “She heard the name Uwe on the radio, and she liked it,” says Hernandez and adds with a laugh: “However, she thought it was written Uwel.” In 2000, the mother emigrated with her son to Germany and ended up in Erding because some relatives live nearby. Uwel quickly learns German and eventually graduates from the Herzog-Tassilo-Realschule.

Too many muscles at first

The muscular lad has always been a sports enthusiast, does judo and athletics at TSV Erding, and also a little body building, before he discovered boxing at the age of 17 and presented to the Klupp / Lutzny duo at KBV Erding. “He had way too many muscles that we had to break down first during kickboxing so that he could be more flexible,” says Lutzny. “And now precisely this speed and therefore its explosiveness is his trademark.” Hernandez nods in agreement and remembers his first boxing training sessions. “I thought I was going to go there now and break everyone, but my punches were too weak.” And laughing, he adds: “At the beginning of every threshing I got – most of the punches from the women.” the then best Erdinger kickboxer Claudia Bruckner.

Mehmet Meier, an Erdinger kickboxing veteran, takes the young boy, who meanwhile has German citizenship, under his wing. “That motivated me,” says Hernandez. “And I always wanted to get better.” Finally, the first fights come, first in junior tournaments and then in the seniors.

Simon Zachenhuber, who was six years his junior, was someone who admired him back then. “When I came to KBV, the Uwel was already established,” says the 22-year-old traveler. “He was my role model and I copied a lot from him.”

Hernandez made his first big appearance at the Bavarian Kickboxing Championships in the Erdinger Semptsporthalle, where he was only barely defeated in the final against the big favorite Klemens Ruder from Dingolfing. “If the Uwel had had a little less respect, then he would have won”, his coach Lutzny is sure.

Finally, Hernandez switched to boxing and earned his first merits there. Zachenhuber, who was in kickboxing light contact at the time, remembers an incident when he asked Hernandez whether he was making light contact and he said with a sympathetic smile: “There is no light contact in boxing.”

I would like to box against Felix Sturm one day

Hernandez has now finally caught the boxing fever. “I wanted to get ahead and thought to myself that I had to go to the big city.” His special Kian Golpira, who boxed at TSV 1860 Munich, brought Hernandez to the state capital. Golpira then asks him if he doesn’t know a good kickboxing school, and Hernandez sends him to Erding. “It was practically an exchange between Erding and Munich,” recalls Lutzny. Golpira finally becomes world champion in kickboxing in Dublin in 2015 – with the coaching team Klupp / Lutzny.

Hernandez boxes in the Bundesliga for the Munich Lions and also at various championships. He fights his way to the top three of the German middleweights (up to 72.5 kilos), climbs into the ring 78 times as an amateur and wins 70 fights. “But since I didn’t have a chance to go to the Olympic Games, I switched to the professionals in 2017,” says Erdinger, who still lives in the ducal city.

Hernandez joins the “Lions Sport Promotion” and completes ten professional fights under his fight name Hector Hernandez. The Erdinger remains victorious nine times, including seven times by knockout – he only has to admit defeat once. That is in the summer of 2019 in Schwerin, when it comes to the German middleweight championship against Björn Schicke from Berlin. Hernandez loses on points, but is severely handicapped.

“We already hit our heads in one of the first laps, I had a laceration and could no longer see properly,” says Erdinger. But shortly before Christmas this year the time has come: Hernandez lands a knockout victory against Chris Hermann from Bremen in Munich and thus “becomes the first German-Cuban”, as he emphasizes, his first German title. “This belt is the most important in Germany,” he says proudly. “There are still international and intercontinental masters and whatever else – but that is the most important.”

Zachenhuber also appreciates the belt and congratulates his former KBV-Spezl and role model. Hernandez said respectfully: “The Zache has developed well and he is still young. He’s definitely a hope for the next few years. ”One of his Munich training colleagues knew the traveler and said:“ He’s a tough dog, his strengths are ambition and hard work. ”The two professionals agree:“ It’s all about staying at it , because at the top it gets really tight. “

Looking for sponsors

As professionals, they are allowed to train during the pandemic, but there have been hardly any events recently. Hernandez, who is the father of a three-year-old daughter, is all the happier that he had the opportunity to get into the ring before Christmas – and also to win the title. For the still unbeaten Zachenhuber, however, it is a bitter disappointment when his planned fight is canceled in mid-October. “The promoters didn’t do it the way I would have liked,” says the 22-year-old.

But both have one problem: They urgently need sponsors. “In professional sport, nothing works without money, especially in boxing it’s just an investment business,” they know and emphasize in unison: “Hopefully next year it will be better.” Hernandez, who will definitely have to defend his title next year, still has a very special wish. “I would like to box against Felix Sturm one day,” he explains confidently. Sturm won on points against Timo Rost in December and inflicted his first professional defeat on him. Hernandez once sent the man from Düsseldorf prematurely on the boards with the amateurs.

Maybe there could even be a fight between the two professionals from the district? Neither of them want to rule that out. Then middleweight Zachenhuber might have to go down one weight class. “We’re only four kilos apart, I’ve also boxed super middleweight,” says the 22-year-old. “It’s feasible for professionals.”

Wolfgang Krzizok