Its not whether you win or lose, its how you play the game. That may be the oldest sports cliche in the world, but for the mainstream sports media, and the fans that depend on them for their information, its just not true. Its all about whether you win or lose. Turn on any sports talk radio show and you'll be subjected to all manner of banal discussion to reinforce my point. Karl Malone and Dan Marino weren't truly great because they never won a championship. The Utah Jazz and Buffalo Bills weren't great teams because they were unable to take their sports ultimate honor. If teams and players aren't being berated for a failure to win, they're simply forgotten. If you can name the losing team in the past ten NBA championships you've got a disturbing knowledge of meaningless sports trivia.
While frequently maligned by the mainstream sports media, the sport of boxing more than any other sport lives by the how you play the game mantra. Serious boxing fans talk more about great fights than in terms of who wins or loses. The greatness of fights like the Ward-Gatti trilogy, the Barrera-Morales trilogy, Hagler-Hearns, Hagler-Leonard and, most recently, the Morales-Pacquaio classic from March 2005 are almost exclusively about how the game was played. Most of these fights were very closely contested, but even in the event of a decisive victory like Hagler-Hearns much credit is given to the opponent for making the fight great. Perhaps the best case in point is the first fight between Manny Pacquaio and Juan Manuel Marquez, which was at or near the top of most serious boxing journalists fight of the year lists for 2004. Despite the fights wall to wall action, the official decision was a draw.
At a certain point in a fighters' career, they can even be criticized for having an undefeated record. While exceptions are made for the best of the best--Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Rocky Marciano come to mind--having a 'zero' in the loss column often reflects poorly on a fighter's willingness to fight high level competition. Even for the best fighters, an undefeated record alone does little to guarantee a place in boxing history. Certainly, that is of much less significance that the manner in which these victories were earned.
The true greats distinguish themselves both by how they 'play the game' as well as their championship accomplishments. Few fit that description more aptly than Mexican welterweight great Carlos Palomino. The native of Sonora, Mexico rose to prominence by holding the welterweight title during the late'70's. During this time, he set a laudable example by becoming the first reigning world champion boxer to earn his college degree.
Palomino immigrated from Mexico as a child and began to train in boxing as a teenager. He showed a lot of promise as an amateur, but delayed his professional debut until'72 in order to serve in the US Army. While enlisted, he became All Army Welterweight Champion and won the national AAU championship. After turning pro, he worked his way up the ranks steadily until he finally won the title in June'76. Palomino scored a TKO victory over Englishman John Stracey in London, England and would defend his belt seven times before dropping the title via split decision to another first rate champion in Wilfred Benitez. He lost his next fight to yet another great in Roberto Duran, and decided to retire from the ring. He posted a credible 4-1 record during a late'90's comeback before deciding to retire for good.
Palomino got into acting after his boxing career came to a close, and has worked steadily both in television and film. He's also done a number of commercials, most famously the early Miller Light Beer 'tastes great/less filling' TV spots.
In the ring, Palomino was something of a hybrid of Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales"a very intelligent, technically sound fighter with deceptive power. His best power shot was a left hook, but he'd more frequently break his opponent down with a punishing body attack. He may have been a more tactical competitor than the prototypical blood and guts Mexican fighter, but a worthy claimant to the proud tradition of great fighters from south of the border.
Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.
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