Earlier this month, Anthony Olascagua retained his WBO flyweight title for the second time when he edged home against former world champion Hiroto Kyoguchi by hard-fought, and in some people's eyes, controversial 12-round unanimous decision.

His trainer, Rudy Hernandez, didn't feel the fight showcased Olascagua (9-1, 6 knockouts), rated at No. 7 by The Ring at flyweight, at his best.

"I wasn't happy with his performance," Hernandez told The Ring. "I wanted a knockout, but he chose to box."

However, in reflection, Hernandez is a little happier.

"A couple nights later, I'm OK with the win result," said the veteran trainer. "Kyoguchi scared me a bit, days leading to fight night. I thought he would be super difficult. He's a really good boxer that doesn't seem like, but he is. Nothing fancy about him but very affective and underrated skills, a two-time world champion.

"I understand that you can't always satisfy everyone. But what's really important, is the win."

The two enjoy a very close relationship, and have known each other Olascagua was 8, through Hernandez son, Micheal.

Olascagua came to live with the Hernandez family at 14, initially for a month, after the youngster fell behind in school, which turned into 12-years.

It wasn't love at first sight and Hernandez decided to teach the rambunctious youngster a lesson.

"He got on my nerves, and I took him to the gym so that Juntó could beat him up," he said laughing. "Juntó's a year older, did as I told him, he cracked that liver and had Tony laying on the canvas for about 5 minutes.

"I asked Tony, "I'm guessing you'll never be coming to the gym again!?!" He replied, "I'm going to train hard, so that one day I'm kicking Juntó Nakatani butt."

And so the bond grew. Within two-years Olascagua was holding his own against seasoned professionals.

Although Olascagua didn't have a stellar amateur career, going 21-2, he spent countless hours in the gym learning his craft improving. After losing at the Western Olympic trials, he earnt a No.8 seed at the Olympic trials, where he upset No. 1 Michael Angeletti. Unfortunately, he had migraine that forced him out of the tournament.

Hernandez had seen the raw potential and believed the now 26-year-old could become a world title by his eighth professional fight.

Olascuaga actually stepped in at late notice and dropped to 108-pounds to face Ring, WBA and WBC titlist Kenshiro Teraji in just his sixth fight in April 2023. Despite being stopped by Teraji in nine-rounds. It proved a valuable learning curve for the fighter and trainer.

In just his second fight back, after Jesse Rodriguez had vacated the WBO 112-pound title, Olascagua showed just why Hernandez had so much faith in him, claiming the vacant title by knocking out Riku Kano in three-rounds.

"Tony winning the title gave me points with the promoter, [Mr. Honda], since I had mentioned to him that Tony could be champion of the world - I wasn't wrong," he said proudly. "It also made my goal because I built him from Day 1 to become a world champion. How many people can say that?"

Having turned back former titleholders Jonathan Gonzalez (TKO 1) and Kyoguchi (UD 12), Olascuaga could be forgiven for wanting something a little easier but that's not in Hernandez or his DNA.

After a few days of downtime in Japan, he'll return to the west coast and pick up where he left off.

"Back to the gym and work on being way better than his last outing," said the venerable trainer. "As a champion, you must perform as such.

"We don't know who's next, but I'll be worried again [laughs.]"