Yesterday marked his professional debut's Silver (25th) anniversary. In a couple of months it will have been 4 years since he last fought. It has been an wilder ride, perhaps, than when he was active in the ring. A curious case, Baldomir boasts a handful of exceptionally strong welterweight wins on his ledger (Joshua Clottey, Zab Judah, and Arturo Gatti) and was a lineal champion at 147lbs, and one of just three welterweight champions ever produced by the proud boxing tradition of Argentina, along with Marcos René Maidana and, as of a few weeks ago, Lucas Martín Matthysse (if you count interim belts, you can add a fourth, Diego Gabriel Cháves) --- and yet never erased popular perceptions of himself as an unathletic, plodding feather-fisted journeyman (which, to be fair, he was, albeit one that overachieved and prospered from "right place, right time" to embark upon a storied Cinderella man run). If not for his banner year in 2006 he would be completely obscure today, but as it stands interest lingered for quite some time even after he surrendered his belts to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in perhaps the biggest lineal championship mismatch (both on paper and in execution) ever witnessed. He parlayed his brief but brightly burning candle of success into further paydays in losses to Vernon Forrest and Canelo Álvarez before finally receding from the limelight. Here is the RBR for his final significant fight, against Marco Antonio Rubio at super middleweight in 2012: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/marco-antonio-rubio-vs-carlos-manuel-baldomir-rbr.428614/ Unbeknownst to me, and I think it may have gone completely under the radar of the entire forum (just conducted a quick search, not a peep about it on here), about 15 months ago he was arrested for sexual abuse charges filed by his own daughter. https://www.infobae.com/deportes-2/...mir-acusado-de-abusar-sexualmente-de-su-hija/ As of just a couple of months ago, December 2017, he was still in custody in Santa Fe while an investigation raged on, a year after his initial arrest. Wtf, man. I guess his life fell completely apart once he stepped away from the sport, marriage crumbled, money dissipated - but still. How depressed must a man be to fall into such depravity as molesting his own progeny four decades and change into the fray? Or was he likelier always just a low-key predator (even while millions were cheering him on in his upsets over Judah & Gatti) and got away with it until his daughter blew the whistle on him? Crazy ****, man.
Info regarding the case is pretty hard to come by. If he ends up proven guilty, a lot of people are going to feel pretty grody about having supported him, I'll bet. Guys like SRR and others have maintained their popularity despite being guilty of various degrees of domestic violence, but a) they were greater than Baldomir (not that it should factor in, greatness shouldn't preclude being held to human being standards, but it does for some) and b) his own ****ing daughter, man, that just adds such an "ick" factor..
Attempting to get the thread back on topic a bit, perhaps? Baldomir had a remarkable chin in his prime... the way he absorbed flush punches from a still dangerous Vernon Forrest was pretty remarkable. The often lamented iron chin of one Shane Mosley didn't hold up to the same punches even remotely as well. I recall his family oddly cheering him on throughout the Forrest bout despite the relatively one sided beating, with the commentary team cutting to them blindly cheering him on multiple times throughout the fight. Like they were oblivious to what was going on in the fight or perhaps were just used to seeing his concrete head absorb punishment by that period in time? As I recall, until the Canelo bout he had an iron chin that had held up over a fairly exhaustive period of time and bouts.
It was a very dominating win for Forrest, very close to a shut out, yes. I believe it was a post surgery Vernon so take it as you will, though he looked quite good in that bout from what I'm remembering. As for the Mayweather fight... how much flak do I get if I admit I've never sat through that particular bout? I've heard it's a real bore.
At least with watching a Judah/Baldomir fight, boring it may be at times but at least you're seeing a fighter with no raw talent upset the apple cart in a huge way, against a fighter with quite frankly a legendary level of hype and sheer athleticism behind him. A big, big upset of recent years that should probably be discussed a bit more. It was huge at the time, but how much do you see it discussed nowadays when big upsets of the "recent" past are discussed? Almost never, honestly. Seems odd that beating one of the most highly hyped and touted fighters of the past 15-20 years after he had suddenly matured a bit and found his groove doesn't garner you a bit more of a foot note in people's minds, you know.
Sounds like Donnie and Ivanka. I have read the articles and kept up on it when they have surfaced over the months. Was actually wondering about if he had been convicted or let go or what has happened a few weeks ago when I read a comment about Baldomir being the worst titlist ever (far from it, but among the most popular modern examples). As is the case with things like this, I care not enough to google the matter even while on my computer surfing the forum. Hopefully, for everyone's sake, he is innocent. But I would bet my left teste that is not the case. Have fun, rotting, Carlos! I wish we could have had Morel and Baldomir in the same cell as Edwin Valero. Then Valero could have hung those two before offing himself.
Davey Hilton (former SMW champ), about 15 years ago, convicted of the same hideous crime (for which he served all of five years in prison)
