Yoenli "El Diablo" Hernandez (10-0, 9 KOs) had strong words for the rest of the 160-pound division this week. The Cuban middleweight faces Francisco Daniel Verón (17-1-1, 10 KOs) on the PBC pay-per-view card on Saturday, August 22nd, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. "I'm the best middleweight in the world right now," said Hernandez. "My hunger for glory, my desire to be champion and win every title—that's something I don't see in the rest of the division. Everyone seems to arrive, get the title, and settle. Not me. I'm coming to get the title, keep it, and fight the best. Lately, nobody in my weight class wants to face the best."
Hernandez, the No. 1-ranked contender by the WBA and WBO and No. 2 by the WBC, won a gold medal at the 2021 AIBA World Boxing Championships before turning professional. He is coming off a fourth-round stoppage of Terrell Gausha in March and has trained in Orlando for the upcoming bout, including sparring with Yoenis Tellez.
"I've focused on polishing the few mistakes I made against Terrell Gausha and Kyrone Davis," said Hernandez. "We're improving, and that's what we're focusing on in this camp. I'm just working twice as hard as I did before my last fight to reach my goal."
"Verón says that I am still a 'very amateur' boxer," said Hernandez. "He thinks that fighting me is like fighting an amateur. He's talking too much. It's one thing to call the devil, another to see him arrive. I see him saying he'll put me in situations no one has put me in before, and I hope he's not one of those talkers who doesn't back up their words inside the ring.
"I'm going all out, I'm coming to win. And if he says he's going to come forward in the ring, he'll have to have more drive than me. And for him to have more drive than me, we'll have to see it to believe it."
"I'm very grateful to be part of such a prestigious card as Rolly vs. Teofimo on August 22," said Hernandez. "I'm going to steal the show by giving the Argentine the beating of the year, and show the fans that I am the most complete fighter at 160 pounds."
