By Eric Thomas: The new WBA interim cruiserweight champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez (24-1, 13 KOs) stopped Steve Herelius (21-2, 12 KOs) in the 7th round last Saturday night to capture the WBA interim title at the RWE Rhein-Ruhr Sporthalle, Muelheim, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Hernandez knocked Herelius down a couple of times in the 7th, and the fight was then stopped by the referee Steve Smoger at 1:19. But neither fighter really established themselves in this fight. Both looked like timid rabbits for most of the fight, as they warily circles and seemed altogether reluctant to throw punches.

Herelius threw some punches in the 5th round after hurting his left ankle in the previous round. It may have been that he was worried the fight would be stopped, because that was really the only time in the fight that he let his hands go with any regularity.

Hernandez, who more or less dominated the first four rounds by default because of Herelius’ low work rate, looked like he was ready to fold in the 5th. Hernandez didn’t like the pressure, and didn’t see at all comfortable when he suddenly found himself getting hit a lot. Hernandez had the same look to him that he did when he was stopped by Wayne Braithwaite in the 3rd round in 2008, and when he went life and death with Michael Simms in winning a narrow eight round majority decision in October 2008.

Hernandez just doesn’t look good when he’s attacked by someone that’s pressuring him and throwing a lot of punches. Luckily for Hernandez, Herelius stopped throwing shots in the 6th and Hernandez was allowed to continue to peck away until he stopped Herelius in the 7th.

I think Hernandez is going to have big problems if he faces one of the harder punchers like Denis Lebedev and Marco Huck. Those guys bring the kind of power that would have Hernandez in trouble and in full scale retreat. As long as Hernandez can be kept away from those guys and other big punchers, he’ll do alright but he can’t be shielded for long from fighters with power.