John H. Stacey 'Completely Underestimated Carlos Palomino'

Ted,

According to Terry Lawless, John's manager, they screened '3' fighters
before choosing Carlos Palomino.

Which looked like to be, A) Cyde Gray, B) Armando Muniz and C) Carlos Palomino

They wanted a 'nice easy defense', and Carlos looked to be the easiest.

I'm sure they looked at tapes of Carlos versus Hedgemon Lewis, and
versus Mika Avans, and must have thought 'this guy looks predictable and easy'.

Many thought Hedgemon Lewis beat Carlos, when they fought to a
10-Round Draw in December 1975. Then John H. blew Hedgemon out.

So the theory, John H. should have 'no problem' with Carlos.

 

A brief recap of the November 22, 1975 bout between,

#8 WBC-ranked - Hedgemon Lewis...53-6-0
vs,
#14 WBC-ranked - Carlos Palomino...17-1-2 {8 KO's}

Hedgemon out-boxed Carlos early, and embarrassed him in several of the early
rounds with his stylish boxing.

After 8-Rounds, Hedgemon appeared to be sitting on a solid 2-Points lead.

But, Carlos rallied strongly in Rounds 9 and 10, including hurting Hedgemon
badly with left hooks.

Newspaper Scorecard........4-4-2 (10-Round Draw)

The WBA, who had not ranked Carlos in their Top 10 rankings at the time, did rank
him after this bout.

Following the 10-Round Draw, Hedgemon Lewis headed to New York to face #6 WBC-ranked
- Harold Weston Jr. for a December 1975 bout.

 

John H. Stracey should get 'high marks', as the plucky Englishman took a hard pounding
in Round 10, and no one would have questioned his heart if he did not come out for Round 11.

But, Mr. Stracey was determined to go 'out on his shield', despite not having the ammunition
to hold Carlos off.

He showed tremendous heart.

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June 22, 1976

Empire Pool, Wembley, London

Rounds 10, 11 and 12.

Commentator - Harry Carpenter who was absolutely brilliant in his calling of the fight.

The Champion - John H. Stracey hung tough, while taking brutal punches from a stronger Challenger - Carlos Palomino.

Despite getting hit with hard punches in Rounds 10 and 11, Stracey still fired back, and landed some good punches of his own.

Entering Round 12, the Champion was 4-Points behind on most scorecards (7-3-1 in Rounds).

In Round 12, check out at the 6:50 Mark (0:33 of Round 12), Stracey lands a good right hand to Carlos' chin, and
Palomino wobbles backwards a bit, and looked stunned.

But 6-seconds later (6:56 Mark), Palomino whips in a vicious left hook underneath to Stracey's ribs, that just looked brutal.

The first knockdown at the 7:16 Mark (0:59 of Round 12), a result of another hard left hook underneath. John
goes down, but gets up at the 8-Count.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwpSeeBQHAk&feature=player_detailpage[/ame]

 

Maybe Carlos needed a couple more wins to reach 'star status'.

In the WBC Championship fight,

John Stracey at 5' 7 1/2" weighed in at 146 lbs.

Carlos at 5' 9", weighed in at 145 1/4 lbs.

But, Carlos looked bigger.