Mexican soccer player Chicharito Hernandez, who played for Real Madrid and Sevilla, shed tears as he commented on the worldwide trending story of the baby monkey “Punch Monkey.”
“Punch Monkey touches us because he’s strong and genuine. He tries to protect himself without really knowing how, but we’ve all done it at one time or another. There’s no malice in him, just emotion, innocence and a desire to exist.”
“Punch Monkey touched us because he’s strong and genuine. He really tries to protect himself without knowing how, and we’ve all done that at one time or another. There’s no malice in him, just emotion, innocence and a desire to exist.” said the former Guadalajara, Manchester United, Real Madrid (2014-2015), Bayer Leverkusen, West Ham United, Sevilla (2019-2020) and Los Angeles Galaxy player.
The 37-year-old Mexican soccer player told his more than 6.3 million followers on Instagram: “You don’t have to live in frustration to feel deeply. You can accept rejection without being a victim. You can protect without being closed off. You should think less about ‘what they did to me’ and more about ‘what should I do about this?'”
Chicharito Hernández remains away from Club Deportivo Guadalajara after leaving the club.
Who is Punch? The story of an abandoned monkey who became a hot topic in search of a stuffed animal.
Punch is a small Japanese macaque at Ichikawa Zoo in Japan that went viral on social networks in February 2026.
After being rejected by his mother soon after he was born in July 2025, Punch Monkey took refuge in a stuffed orangutan given to him by a zookeeper in search of affection.
After adopting an IKEA stuffed animal as his mother, little Punch undergoes a difficult integration process to integrate socially with the zoo’s other monkeys.
This heartwarming story has become a global trend.
