By Jim Dower: IBF cruiserweight champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez (25-1, 13 KO’s) has a tough rematch coming up next month on February 4th against former International Boxing Federation champion Steve Cunningham (24-3, 13 KO’s) in a fight a the Fraport Arena in Frankfurt, Germany.

This is a fight that Hernandez, 27, will lose if he runs out of gas like he was in the process of doing last time they fought last October. Hernandez won that fight by a controversial six round technical decision but he looked like he was falling apart mentally and physically at the time the bout was halted due to a cut he suffered from a headbutt.

Hernandez has great skills. In fact, I’d rate as the most technical fighter in the cruiserweight division. He’s a product of the Cuban amateur system and has been fighting since he was a small kid in Cuban. Hernandez is a former 2005 Cuban national champion, which is a big deal given all the boxing talent in that country. However, as a pro, Hernandez seems gas out after four rounds.

It’s like he’s still physically fighting amateur bouts and when he goes past the fourth round, he’s got nothing left. We saw some of that in Hernandez’s win over Michael Simms in October 2008 when Hernandez tired out after the 5th and began to take a lot of punishment from someone he should have been able to easily beat. His trainer worked with him after that to get him to pace himself more and it seemed to have fixed the problem for Hernandez. However, we saw Hernandez’s stamina problems resurface in the Cunningham fight and things looked bad for him until he the fight was halted due to the cut he suffered.

In the rematch next month, Hernandez is going to have to find a way to fight at a slower pace while at the same time throwing enough punches to keep Cunningham off him. There’s a fine line there that Hernandez has to walk in order to win this fight. If he throws too many punches, he’ll gas out, but not enough then he’ll get worn down and taken out by Cunningham.