@ChrisJS and @AlFrancis , I don't know if you guys noticed this but Bernardo Caraballo passed away the other day. I single out you guys because of your personal interests in that era. Besides his two spirited challenges for the title against Jofre and Harada, Caraballo beat Chartchai Chionoi, Pascual Perez, Mimoun Ben Ali, Pero Rollo, Manny Elias, Ramon Arias, Waldemiro Pinto, Ronnie Jones, Eugenio Hurtado, Memo Tellez and Antonio Herrera throughout his career. Man, he slotted right in with Jofre, Harada, Alan Rudkin, Jose Medel and Jesus Pimental in that highly talented era. No telling how many straps he would have picked up today. RIP.
At one point in time he was considered Colombia's greatest fighter (this was before Valdez and Cervantes) he was also Rodrigo Valdez idol... pretty good little fighter. RIP Champ.
Yes Dan, very sad news. I actually posted it on the Latino boxing site on fb yesterday morning. We were just talking about him last week on fb and his place in that golden era. He's a name that I grew up with as a contemporary of my dad's and I'd been watching some of his recent interviews. May he rest in peace.
Well, this makes me sad. Caraballo was a name from my youth when all I could do was read about guys who weren't from America or Mexico. He, Chionoi, Harada, Kingpetch and others took on almost mythic qualities for me. RIP Bernardo.
Outstanding fighter for a time, very much a champ in most other eras type. If he'd been around in recent years, I'd be willing to bet that he would've bagged titles in more than one division from bantam downwards and been a fixture in the p4p rankings. His skill set and instinctive idiosyncratic talent were borderline great imo and he beat some top, top fighters. RIP.
A fantastic fighter and a wonderful person. How sad. I remember a week ago telling Alan he wasn’t doing good. He’d be a multiple time champ in this era. Great fighter. RIP campeon.
