Fernando Orlando Velárdez (born January 16, 1981 in San Bernardino, California

San Bernardino, California

San Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...

) is a Mexican American

Mexican American

Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...

 professional boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 in the Lightweight

Lightweight

Light-weight is a class of athletes in a particular sport, based on their weight.-Professional boxing:The lightweight division is over 130 pounds and up to 135 pounds weight class in the sport of boxing....

 division. He's the former USBA Super Bantamweight

Super Bantamweight

Super bantamweight is a weight division in professional boxing. The maximum weight for this division is 122 pounds, or roughly 55.34 kilograms....

 and WBC Youth World

World Boxing Council

The World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...

 Super Featherweight

Super Featherweight

Super featherweight is a weight division in professional boxing. The maximum weight for this division is 130 pounds or 59 kilograms....

 champion.

Pro Career

In September of 2001, Fernando knocked out the veteran David Donis to win the USBA Super Bantamweight

Super Bantamweight

Super bantamweight is a weight division in professional boxing. The maximum weight for this division is 122 pounds, or roughly 55.34 kilograms....

 championship.

WBC Featherweight Championship

On May 3, 2003 Velárdez was knocked out by WBC

World Boxing Council

The World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...

 Featherweight

Featherweight

Featherweight is a weight class division in the sport of boxing. There are similarly named divisions under several Mixed Martial Arts organizations and in Greco-Roman wrestling.-Professional boxing:...

 champion Érik Morales

Erik Morales

Érik Isaac Morales Elvira is a Mexican professional boxer. He is the first Mexican born boxer in history to win a world title in four weight classes and is the current WBC Light Welterweight Champion...

 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

.

External links