Pivotal Fight for Hernandez

There’s a bittersweet sense of unfulfilled promise enveloping the MGM Grand Garden Arena, much like that which surrounds the blue-haired tourist from Middle America who hits a royal flush on video poker but has put in one coin instead of the max.

The payoff just isn’t what it should be.

Carlos “Famoso” Hernandez, the first world champion of Salvadoran descent, knows the feeling and should be reveling in his moment. After years of near poverty, the Bellflower native seemingly has it all -- a loving wife, a healthy infant son, the adoration of his ancestral homeland, a championship belt, money to spend.

But his relatively nascent title reign could come to a crashing halt tonight.

Hernandez, the International Boxing Federation’s super-featherweight champion, will meet 4-to-1 favorite Erik “El Terrible” Morales, the World Boxing Council’s 130-pound champion, in a unification bout that could end this chapter in Hernandez’s storybook rise.

“I already accomplished my dream, and that was to become the first champion of the world from my country of El Salvador,” said Hernandez, who weighed in at 130 pounds and is 40-3-1 with 24 knockouts. He won his belt Feb. 1, 2003, with a technical decision over David Santos.

“But my personal goal also was to be the unified champion ... and now I have it in front of me, and I don’t want to let this chance slip away. I’m going to give my heart, my soul into this fight. Morales is as well. He knows what he’s up against and more than anything, this fight is for honor for two countries.”

Hernandez has defended the title only once. With his hard-knock story -- he used to fight for $240 paydays and could barely support his wife, Veronica, as they used to sneak food from his parents -- it seemed a natural for him to earn more money by defending his title a few more times before facing a fighter as fearsome as the Tijuana-born Morales.

Hernandez wanted a title defense in El Salvador, but Top Rank President Bob Arum, who said efforts were made, decided the country’s political climate made it too “dicey.”

“I’m ambivalent,” Arum added. “I’m not rooting for anybody. If [Carlos] loses to Erik, obviously it’s a big step back, but he’s been in a high-visibility fight, commercials are airing all over the country and therefore he will still have legs as a fighter. Now, there’s a vast difference between winning and losing, but he doesn’t go back to fighting for 400 bucks.”

Morales (46-1, 34) carved his formidable reputation at 122 and 126 pounds before taking Jesus Chavez’s belt at 130 with a unanimous decision, joining Julio Cesar Chavez as the lone Mexican-born fighters to win world titles in three weight classes. As usual, Morales has worked himself into a lather in the days leading up to the fight, belittling Hernandez’s brawling style.

Morales also wasn’t impressed with the rags-to-riches tale of Hernandez, whose $650,000 payday is a career high. With Hernandez’s former agent, Robert Mittleman, out of the fight game after pleading guilty to fixing fights, Veronica acted as manager and negotiated with Arum for this fight.

“I think every boxer has a story that would make some people cry,” said Morales, who had to strip off his boxers to make the 130-pound limit. “I’m sure that he has gone through a lot, but so have I, and many other boxers probably had been through worse. That really won’t affect how I fight him or how he fights me.”

Indeed, with each fighter’s style of taking two punches to land one, the action is sure to be brutal. Yet it probably won’t be as wicked as the feeling of promise unfulfilled if Hernandez were to lose.

*

Facts

ERIK MORALES (46-1, 34 KOs) vs. CARLOS HERNANDEZ (40-3-1, 24 KOs)

* What: The World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation super-featherweight (130 pounds) championship, scheduled for 12 rounds.

* When: Tonight.

* Where: MGM Grand Garden, Las Vegas.

* TV: Pay-per-view ($39.95), 6 p.m.