Carlos Palomino's comeback

He was fairly popular and was well known, although not a household name. He did a lot of Miller lite commercials and even came out on “Cheers” as himself. An exciting and very good fighter who came along around a very stacked era in the welters.

 

Carlos Palomino was an excellent fighter and was an extremely well-respected champ by everyone back then.

During his reign, most of the talk centered around either a unification with the WBA champion Pipino Cuevas (classic boxer-puncher matchup) or the possibility of the lightweight champ Duran moving up and fighting Palomino for his welterweight title.

In all the boxing mags, there were always letters from readers asking for those two matchups.

Palomino was based in California, so he was very popular with the movie and TV stars of that time period, particularly those who were into boxing (like James Caan and Ryan O'Neill). Carlos seemed to view boxing as a steppingstone to a career in Hollywood. So, when he started nearly the end of his reign, he got an agent and began appearing on television regularly. He most famously starred in an episode of the TV Show "Taxi" where one of the cab drivers (Tony Danza) sparred with the champ (Palomino) and dropped him.

Palomino just missed the rise of the welterweight division. Before Ray Leonard, no boxer below heavyweight had ever earned $1 million for a fight. Carlos typically made $100,000 (sometimes less) for a title defense. But that was no reflection on Palomino. I think Eddie Mustafa Muhammad made $25,000 to challenge Marvin Johnson for the light heavyweight belt. Probably Palomino's biggest rival during his reign was Armando Muniz, who was also based out of California and was a former Olympian. He'd been around longer. But Palomino sort of leapfrogged him to the title.

When Carlos lost to Wilfred Benitez, it was an upset. Then Leonard fought Benitez, and both Ray and Wilfred earned just over $1 million. It was a huge deal at the time. Then Palomino fought Duran in a non-title welterweight fight. It was the bout everyone had anticipated for years, and it was an excellent fight, but Duran was the clear winner. (I've always considered it one of the Duran's best wins.) Then Leonard and Duran fought for the first time, and Ray got $10 million to Duran's $1 million. (The money just JUMPED.)

With the money and the spotlight on the welters, it was a suprise when Palomino retired at 30. It was something he'd promised himself he'd do. So he did. He certainly had MANY good years left in him as a fighter. He just thought Hollywood was calling.

Then he attempted to become a movie star. Appeared in dozens of TV shows and had small parts in movies, but he never became famous in that arena.

I think everyone liked Palomino. He was always a nice guy in public. Very gentlemanly. Always carried himself with class. He started appearing on ESPN talk shows in the late 80s, and with his moustache shaved, he looked even younger than he did when he was fighting.

The comeback was a suprise. I was happy he did so well. The Rivera outcome was a real shock. Leads you to believe he could've been involved in all those fights at 147 and 154 in the early 80s. But he was a natural welterweight. He may not even have campaigned at 154.

I've always held him in high regard. One of the best welterweights ever. Not in the top 10. But one of the best.

 

Good post. It was “Taxi” I was thinking about, don’t know why I wrote “Cheers”. It’s the episode where he gives Tony a free shot then gives him a shot in the gut when he gets uppity.

 

The beer spokesman's career in and out the ring has always interested me.

This may not be a popular opinion but I don't feel he was any more talented then guys like Armando Muniz or Hedgemon Lewis but they came just a little bit earlier and had Napoles to contend with.

So many wait to long to finish their careers but Carlos was unique in the fact he retired pretty much in or near his prime. With his wits and health. Lost two in the trot but against bona fide all time greats.
Went on to better himself with tertiary education and tried to forge out an acting career.

So I'm not heaps surprised he came back in such good shape after so long because he struck me as a man with tremendous internal fortitude.

I'm almost certain someone has done an ATG moustache list on this board. I'd be interested to know where he stands.

 

He managed to defeat Muniz twice (first was a minor classic), but I'd agree he was a clear step down from Mantequilla. Still, he crafted a solid title reign and didn't embarrass himself during his comeback. Could do much worse for a career.

 

I never thought Palomino was a step down in terms of quality from Napoles. I think his career was just abbreviated. A Cuevas unification would've been pretty epic.

I think Palomino gets lost because arguably the greatest welterweight class in history followed him. He gets lost in THEIR shadow.

IMO, Napoles would've gotten lost in their shadows too, if he'd lost his title to Benitez and that class all exploded on the scene right after he was gone. They treated some of Jose's best defenses as easy wins on the way up.

Jose benefits from having some distance between his reign and the emergence of those guys that Carlos doesn't.

 

Would have been very interesting if he'd have continued fighting at 147 after Duran, Hearns and Leonard had left the division. A fight with Pryor at welter would have been very entertaining.

 

I thinks it pretty clear that Napoles was a level above Carlos in terms of ability and career.

His reign was longer and has better wins. Though he had to regain his title and the first Muniz fight was an absolute travesty. Whereas Palomino's was relatively free of any such controversies.

I don't disagree Napoles would have had a hard time even being a titlist around the Hearns-Leonard-Duran-Benitez era.

But do you feel Palomino would have faired any better in the time of Napoles?

He might get the ageing Cokes but no way does he put on that sort of clinic/beating. He was lucky to get past Hedgemon Lewis when Hedgedawg was in the twilight of career.
You think he would fair better with Lewis 5 years younger and less shopworn? The version Napoles beat.

I think Carlos was fortunate in his own way as he was an interim champ of sorts between two eras.

No disrespect to Carlos whom I respect and like personally.

But I think not to distinguish between him and Jose does Napoles a disservice.

 

Yeah he looks fantastic

 

Great post D. Nicely put. I'm a fan of Carlos' as well and I seem to remember him in those classic Bud Light commercials of yesteryear.

 

He has a pretty ****ing cool name as well.

 

I grew up watching Carlos Palomino and over the years I spent a lot of time pretending to be him while I hit the heavy bag. Almost as much time as I spent pretending to be Alexis Arguello. He defended his world title 8 times, I think.

When he fought Rene Arredondo, Arredondo had no business being in a boxing ring. His alcoholism was at a critical point. Thankfully Rene has been sober for many years now.

 

I liked him a lot, have always preferred watching fighters that fought like him. by that I mean guys that liked the close up type of fight, keeping in range and distance, throwing short educated shots, not too KO their opponent as such, but more like hurt them over the long haul, so you would see ( depending on the opponent of course ) a fairly longish fight, more time to appreciate the skills of that fighter, his toughness, and normally ( not always ) this type of fighter would have a good chin, as Carlos most certainly did , so keep all your KO merchants, give me the Palominos of our sport.