1-He died incredibly young 2-He was Cuban, was never going to be easy to turn pro A true what if, and a very, very special boxer.
Great amateur but imo too small wrong style for pro hw boxer, maybe cw. He was actually looked smaller than Savon who was cw
I saw Roberto Balado fight at the World Amateur Championships in Sydney in 1991. He took the gold in the Super Heavyweight division & won boxer of the tournament. I'll be honest though - I thought there were more impressive fighters on display. The Cuban Heavyweight Felix Savon for starters. Savon was still a young bloke at the time & hadn't won any of his Olympic gold medals at that point. He was tall, very quick & punched hard. He pole-axed a very young David Tua in 17 seconds during that tournament. I think Savon consistently beat Balado in Cuban domestic competitions which is what prompted Balado to move to the Super Heavyweight division. The other standout from the 1991 World Amateur Championships was a young Russian representing the Soviet Union who beat Vernon Forrest in the final at Light Welterweight. I can't recall his name but jeez he was good.
