American boxer Nico Hernandez said he came to Rio for gold. He's leaving with bronze. 

Hernandez lost to Uzbekistan's Hasanboy Dusmatov in the light flyweight semifinal, 3-0, ending an unexpected run to the podium. Hernandez is the first American to win a flyweight medal in the Olympics since 1988.

With impressive footwork and a strong left, the southpaw Dusmatov controlled the fight from the get-go. He won all three rounds unanimously. In the second round, he connected on a left that cut Hernandez just above his left eye. By the third round, Hernandez knew he was trailing on the scorecards and tried throwing wild punches, but Dusmatov bounced away from them. 

To start the tournament, Hernandez pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the Olympics' opening days on Monday night with a unanimous decision over Russia's Vasilii Egorov, the European champion and runner-up at last year's world championships.

He then reached the medal round with a unanimous victory over Pilataxi in the quarterfinals. Winning in the quarterfinals of any weightclass tournament guarentees a boxer at least a bronze medal. There is no repechage matchup for the losing boxers in the semifinal rounds: both are awarded a bronze medal. 

Hernandez's bronce medal is the United States first medal of any kind in this weight class since the 1988 Seoul Games, when Michael Carabajal won silver. The U.S. hasn't won gold in the weight class since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.