Was Carlos Palomino at the end of his career when he lost to Benitez & Duran? What if Duran had challenged "King Carlos" in 1977? In the middle of Palomino's prime. Would the result have been different?
Duran was still a lightweight in 1977 so he would have been giving up too much in weight to beat Palomino at that stage of his career. If however you are speaking of a hypothetical matchup between the Palomino of 1977 vs the Duran of 1979 then I think Duran would have gotten the decision.
Im not so sure Palomino had slid that far in those fights from his best..he still looked pretty capable. The level of dominance that Roberto showed in that fight in all aspects makes me think Carlos would never have an answer for him. Roberto was no less a monster in 77, though that period when he fought Palomino, Leonard, Brooks and DeJesus for the third time is about the best I have ever seen him. The result would not have changed..at best it would have been closer.
Palomino was still in his prime for the Benitez and Duran fights.He's one of those rare fighters that retired while more or less still at the top of his game.
Palomino was very good fighter, duran was a very GREAT fighter. Duran was just too naturally talented for palomino, who didn't possess one single trait that could offset duran. He was mechanical in comparison and it showed in their fight. Durans ability to feint and slip punches was phenominal.
Yes good post. This could be true, however Palomino did have over 10 title defenses & two wars with Armando Muniz. He still looked good in losing efforts with Benitez & Duran. But he still could have been slipping a little bit.
Yeah he probably would have started to noticeably drop off a 2 or 3 years after losing to Duran if he kept up his schedule up. but a lot of those defences other than the Muniz bouts, were easy ones against poor competition. Palomino was very good, but more thana nything else just didn't have that slight something extra to beat fighters like Benitez or Duran.He did give it an excellent effort against Wilfred however.Benitez had a poor night offensively in that fight.