It was 3:15 p.m. Wednesday on the West Coast. The phone rang and it was longtime publicist Bill Caplan calling from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Seconds later, Caplan handed the phone over to former junior lightweight world champion Genaro “Chicanito” Hernandez, who for the past six months has been battling rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare soft-tissue cancer.
To say Hernandez had good news would be an understatement of gargantuan proportions.
“I have no more tumor in my sinus area,” said Hernandez, who spoke in whispered tones because the radiation treatments damaged his vocal chords. “The doctor today told me that the cancer seems to have been defeated. I got the final result 15 minutes ago. The only thing they’re worried about is that I am still weighing only about 120 pounds and I that I have to continue the chemotherapy treatments.”
BoxingScene.com spoke to Hernandez for about 10 minutes, during which time he briefly cried.
“Oh, wow, tears of joy,” said Hernandez, when asked his first thoughts when his doctor gave him the good news. “I was thinking about all the support, the people that have prayed for me. It was God’s will for me to survive what at one point was a deadly disease.
“They think it’s completely gone. But like anything, there could always be one little cell that they didn’t catch. But right now, the cancer is defeated.”
About three hours earlier Wednesday, we spoke with Caplan as he awaited word on Hernandez’s prognosis. He recalled how a little more than two months earlier he had been at the cancer center in Houston with Hernandez and his wife, Liliana. It was then that Hernandez was first told that the cancer might be gone because all the tests done at that time showed no signs of the tumor that had wreaked havoc in his head. Hernandez had already been on radiation and chemotherapy treatments for four months.
“He saw a team of three doctors, and all three are heavy-duty guys in their specialties,” Caplan said. “The last guy, a head and neck surgeon, told Chicanito and his wife that, looking at the MRIs and the CT scans that had been done, ‘I don’t see any evidence of a tumor now.’
“The two of them were coming out of his office and they were crying, I was crying. But they said they wanted to see him again in six to eight weeks. Hopefully, he is going to get the same good news now.”
Three hours later, that’s exactly what Hernandez got – perhaps the best news he has ever received during his 42 years of living.
“It has been very difficult,” said Hernandez, who said the severe weight loss and not being able to interact with his wife and kids the way he would were he not sick, has been especially trying and stressful. “But I defeated the cancer because I had the will and the power and the strength of the people and God.”
Caplan said that during Hernandez’s first visit to Houston, he was “in terrible, terrible pain,” perhaps the most pain he had during this ordeal.
“I believe it was,” Hernandez said. “And the reason why was because the radiation damaged the vocals and that is the reason I sound the way I do. I am practically screaming at you right now.”
Hernandez, of Los Angeles, laughed a little.
Now that he has gotten off the canvas to win the biggest fight of his life, Hernandez is setting his sights on getting back to normal. He is no longer on radiation treatments, but he said doctors want him to continue his chemotherapy for 24 more weeks.
“Not being able to eat solid foods, I am trying to that once again,” he said. “I am trying to get back on track with this.”
Choking back tears, Hernandez wanted to reiterate just how much he appreciated the loads of good wishes he received the past six months.
“Basically, there was never a doubt in my mind that I was going to make it because I always believed in myself,” he said. “But it was just outrageous how many people supported me. I could never thank everybody enough for all the support.”
Arum Mum on Margarito
A well-placed source tells us that promoter Bob Arum has been instructed by the legal team he hired for Antonio Margarito not to speak about the recent results of lab tests that showed the hand wraps Margarito was busted with before his Jan. 24 fight against “Sugar” Shane Mosley contained two elements that make up plaster of Paris.
The source said that the legal team – led by high-profile attorney Daniel Petrocelli – is going to appeal Margarito’s one-year revocation of his license by the California State Athletic Commission. At the very least, Petrocelli wants to get Margarito’s revocation reduced to six months based on the notion that regardless of any test results, there was no evidence presented at a February commission hearing that indicated Margarito knew his wraps contained any illegal substances.
Red Carpet Magic
Initially, the feeling here was that this red-carpet news conference held Monday in Hollywood to promote the May 2 fight between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton might be kind of corny. A red carpet for boxers? But in actuality, the event was exciting and came off without a hitch.
There were a few movie stars, such as Mark Wahlberg and Mickey Rourke – who sported a whacked out hairdo. Even UCLA head basketball coach Ben Howland walked down the red carpet.
It was difficult to understand, however, what Los Angeles Times reporters Lance Pugmire and Kevin Baxter were doing walking down the red carpet as if they were stars. And, believe me, we gave them the business for that. But the whole thing was unquestionably fun.
Hundreds, perhaps as many as a thousand, fans attended the event on a cool, Hollywood night. Many were across the street, as there was not enough room for all of them on the side of the street on which the famous Roosevelt Hotel sits.
As Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, made his way down the red carpet, a group of fans cheered Arum and waved him over. Surprisingly, Arum did a limbo move under the velvet rope and went and greeted them. After taking pictures, he came back to join a few of us reporters who did not walk the red carpet like the guys from the L.A. Times did.
“They’re my fans, they’re my customers,” Arum said. “You gotta say hello to your customers.”
Really, you just had to get a kick out of the whole gig, which, according to Arum, was the brainchild of publicists Kelly Swanson and Fred Sternburg.
Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions – which promotes Hatton – couldn’t stop smiling.
“Well, I think this is great,” Schaefer said. “You have the two most popular fighters in the world fighting each other and to do a red carpet on Hollywood Blvd., I think they deserve it. They earned it. I think this is great for the sport of boxing because as I was doing the red carpet here, there is a lot of entertainment press as well, there are news stations here.
“So, it’s not just covered – and I don’t mean it in a negative way – it’s not just covered by the boxing press, but it’s covered by the press, period. And I think, ultimately, that’s good for the sport of boxing.”
Howland, whose Bruins were eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, said he is a huge boxing fan and of the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier trilogy, in particular.
“Yeah, I love boxing,” Howland said. “I’m very excited about this fight and I’m looking forward to attending, hopefully, in May. I have some friends who are involved (in the red carpet event) and so I thought I’d come out and get a chance to meet the fighters and see the aspect of the fight starting right here with the promotion of it.
“It’s unbelievable. I mean, look at the amount of attention and interest of this fight. It’s spectacular.”
Roach To Hatton: Bring on The Weight
Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, was asked what he thought about Hatton’s claim that he will be the biggest fighter Pacquiao has ever faced because he plans to walk into the ring at about 154 pounds. That would be 14 over the 140-pound limit at which the fight will be contested.
“The heavier he is, the happier I am,” Roach said of Hatton. “Weight gain is not good for fighters. If you gain more than 10 pounds, you are a fool. It’s going to hurt you.”
Interestingly, Hatton said Monday he weighed only 150. That said, it would be difficult to imagine him being 150 now, 140 for the weigh-in and 154 on fight-night.
Hatton, by the way, looked about as good as we can remember looking a month from a fight. It could be that his poem-reciting trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., has really gotten Hatton to buckle down and avoid the booze.
“I think Mayweather’s working his magic,” Schaefer said. “Any fighter who is as popular as Oscar, as Ricky is, Manny, Floyd (Jr.), they need somebody to sort of like bring them down to (Earth), to sort of make them train harder.”
Robert Morales covers boxing for the Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, and BoxingScene.com
