Andres Hernández (boxer)

Hernandez made his professional boxing debut on June 22, 1969, when he defeated Willie Pastrana (not to be confused with Willie Pastrano, the former light heavyweight champion) by a four-round decision at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan. In his second fight, Hernandez lost for the first time, to another local prospect, Santos Luis Rivera, by a four-round decision. He avenged that loss in his very next bout, beating Rivera by a six-round decision in San Juan. After defeating Jose Rosado, he and Rivera had a rubber match, and this time Rivera won, again, on points over six rounds.

After a four-round draw (tie) against Tomas Rivera in Ponce, Hernandez reeled off a streak of eleven wins in a row, three by knockout. These included a victory over veteran Jose Luis Cetina (59-18-2 coming into their fight) in what was Hernandez's first fight abroad, held at the International Amphitheater, in Chicago, Illinois, United States, when he beat Cetina with a sixth-round knockout. The streak came to an end when he traveled to Panama to fight world-ranked Gilberto Illueca, and dropped a ten-round unanimous decision.

Hernandez then started another streak of wins, this time reaching eight consecutive victories before facing another up-and-coming Puerto Rican bantamweight, Wilfredo Gómez. The pair met on Saturday, December 20, 1975, at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan as part of a boxing program that included fights of Julian Solís, Larry Holmes and Roberto Durán defending his world Lightweight title in the main event against the Mexican Leoncio Ortiz. Despite the fact that Gomez had fought only 22 rounds in his first eight bouts (he was 7-0-1 with 7 knockout wins) for an average of slightly less than 3 rounds per fight, Hernandez put up serious resistance and went into round eight before Gomez could knock him out.

After the defeat to Gomez, Hernandez won four bouts in a row, including a win over future title challenger Cleo Garcia of Nicaragua. This allowed him to challenge the WBC world champion, Mexican Carlos Zarate. Zarate was another heavy puncher who came into the championship fight, held at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan on April 22, 1978, with a record of 49 wins and no losses, with 48 of those wins by knockout. The bout's referee was Richard Steele. Hernandez gave the champion a serious test, lasting until round 13 when he lost by technical knockout.